..if my comments could be interpreted as some materialistic, capitalistic boogeyman attitude.

I know animals. I know cats and dogs. They don't think, they react. They don't premeditate. They don't love. They bond. And their motivation is food and survival.

When I see humans pretend that they do, hhen they say "give mommy a kiss" and then let the dog lick them, I see the yet another form of human self-delusion.

When one doesn't care for kids, the human id tends to create surrogates. So pets fill this role for childless people every where. The woman who dresses up her dog and calls herself its mommy is just one of millions engaged in the same thing. Others embrace onjects and collections. They are "mommy" or "daddy" to their prized possessions. I know one guy who loved his Porsche like a child and was constantly calling it "his baby". He spoke of Zymol wax the way a mother would speak of infant formula. It was obvious what he really wanted, but the human mind has ways of dealing with such setbacks by creating surrogates

Truth in Advertising Dept.

Petco = ChildSurrogateCo.

Sure, its a good thing that humans care for animals if they have no one else to care for. But I'm not a polite liar who spares peoples feelings only to reinforce bad habits. I'm not going to lie and say that it is anything but a make-believe, one-sided substitute for the real thing or an augmentation for dysfunctional relationships.

Petsmart = HusbandWifeSurrogateCo.

For failed relationships pets are often turned to by one partner for the 'unconditional love' their partner isn't giving them. Or by someone for the absence of a partner altogether. Some couples can only get together around their pets - their pets bond them - both care for the pet(s), but not for each other.

How many women, such as the insecure Hollywood starlets, carry around those little dogs? I was sitting in my car in La Jolla about ten years ago and this woman, 40-ish, was forcing her dog to kiss her repeatedly for about five minutes or more by holding its head in a vice-grip and repeatedly kissing its lips. It was one of the most nauseating, and unbelievably saddest things I had seen. It was a form of bestiality, and I suddenly realized was probably a fairly common form.

It's only healthy if they have NO other alternative. The truth is, most ALL do, but they are risk-adverse and fear rejection. Friendship, love - these things involve risk. They require effort to succeed. True love doesn't exist like in the storybooks. It is a demanding, full time job that is strewn with landmines and conflict. A failed relationship or a series of rejections and wham-o they are suddenly Petcos best customer or are like Porsche daddy - waxing "baby" with Zymol in the middle of the night.

Pets are used by parents to develop caring skills. "If you can keep this hamster alive...we'll think about getting you a puppy."

One of my uncles trains police dogs. He has had thousands of dogs over the years. He knows a dog IS a dog. Folks who deal with animals for a living can no longer easily use them as surrogates - because they know them far better than pet owners know their pets. He knows that you can NEVER fully trust an animal because it IS an animal. You can train them, condition them, manipulate their instincts, bond them to particular humans - but that is all. And these animals he trains are the ones men must count on and risk their lives with. These animals APPEAR to be more intelligent to us because they have been trained and their instincts and abilities given useful purpose by a human trainer.

He realizes the pet food companies have to sell "sentience" to pet owners. Look at the cat food ads and its mute testimony to this process. Your cat is picky (he's really a human in disguise) and you have to buy him the best food. He will love you more if you spend more.

It is blatant manipulation of humanities massive insecurities. It's the corporate manipulation who can profit at the expense of millions.

But it works to the tune of 45 billion dollars.

It's fine to care for animals, it's not a crime to own a pet. But in today's society it is a public service to force folks to be honest with themselves about their motivations. And this doesn't just deal with pets - but their motivations for EVERYTHING they do.

I'm the guy everyone loves to hate or wants so badly to hate but can't quite - and why? Because I am painfully honest. And not honest with the intent to hurt, but rather honest with the intent to SPUR growth and evolution.

My role here is as a catalyst. I only wake-up those aspects which already exist in folks. I am painfully aware of my own-shortcomings in this process. I am blunt, prone to bias easily, seem callous and insensitive and a host of other shortcomings which make my catalyst action rather explosive or ineffectual because the recipient shuts down before the catalytic action has commenced.

Being around me can be rather painful. It's like being around someone who pokes and prods ones wounds. One can easily hate someone like that - until one realizes they are not malicious, nor stupid, but have a wonderful and caring technique that promotes healing.

Eventually, my self-sworn enemies, become my closest friends because they have that epiphany - they suddenly see the big picture. Here at the Zone, those epiphanies are still a ways away, but some here already understand this intuitively, even if their conscious mind can't quite reconcile my seemingly callous posts.

The truth is, if someone has contact with me, they attracted me through frequency relationship - and vice-versa. They wanted and were ready to be around a catalyst who presents information not easily obtained on this world and at this time. I understand this process and try to serve them to the best of my ability even when the process is completely unknown to them. I have my own catalysts who infuriate me - but at least I do understand the process and this makes it much easier to look within and conduct self-analysis.

Seriously - exactly where is one going to find someone who talks about pet ownership as honestly in today's world? I'm the only ticket at the Ticketmaster desk right now, sorry.

;-)

I apologize if folks here weren't ready to hear this - but I know most were. The HZ is click dependent - the one's who weren't ready will not click. It makes my job easier, because I'm truly not forcing my views on others - by clicking the post they are coming to me.