Tuesday, September 06, 2005

What matters - people, home, pets

The Lansing State Journal reports that a convoy of buses from Lansing that went to Baton Rouge to bring back 150 families seeking shelter returned empty. The people in shelters there didn't want to be that far away from home, especially those who are still looking for their relatives.

That's why it's no surprise to me that so many people in New Orleans are refusing to leave their flooded homes -- especially when they have pets who will be stripped from them when they leave the city. I saw a distraught woman on CNN last night who had rescued dozens of neighbors. But when she went to leave herself, she found she couldn't take her dog Tinky. "I want to go, but I can't leave Tinky," she said.

I, for one, don't think she should be asked to leave her dog behind.

We've seen lots of people yelling and screaming about looting -- about things. Where is the chorus saying that we should let people take their pets with them if they want to? Where are our priorities? For many of us, our pets are family.

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