Diavolo - "Unless you make over $343k per year in the US, you are the 99%. Carrying the water for the billionaires is just the height of self loathing."
So well said I had to reread it a couple times.
"Change is messy. It doesn't happen overnight."
Yes, as a good friend recently said, few protests if any or change don't come without a mess.
"Ciaran, if you didn't lose your house, you partner, your dog and your job, all you lost was on paper and that just doesn't matter. Sorry. It doesn't. I've lost a several hundred thousand dollars, so what? I also lost my job, but I still have my house and my dogs so I consider myself one of the lucky ones.
In my line of work I've met people that are completely broken with no where to turn. Unless you've been on the front line in this country, you don't know. I met a woman last week who lost her job and her house. She has spent her remaining funds boarding her St. Bernard. She's out of money and has to find him a new home. She's sitting out front of the local grocery store with a rescue organization trying to find a good home for her dog. She's nearly 60 and has been couch surfing since she lost her home. Now she's losing her dog too. That is someone who has lost it all. That's who the Occupiers are fighting for and I wholeheartedly support them."
This breaks my heart. Pets are one more casualty in the financial free fall we are in. I found an elderly dog abandoned in a park this afternoon where I shoot at an archery range. I was not happy to find this older golden retriever - disabled, losing hair, drooling and clearly dumped by a boat ramp.
Two things -
1) kudos to the woman you met, Diavolo, for doing the right thing for her dog, and I hope she gets a real break soon. There are people right now making very hard choices about pets and housing and medications and families. I feel for them.
and
2) kudos to the two officers who came out to help me with this dog and the animal control officer who volunteered on his day off when the dispatcher told him what I had reported. Whatever the person's economic situation, I make no excuses for what I saw today when I know at the very least dropping this dog off at the humane society or veterinarian's office less than 10 minutes away would have at least ensured that this dog did not lie in a park in the rain waiting for death by starvation, exposure or coyotes.
I have great respect for emergency responders who face difficult situations some times on a daily basis and face them with grace and compassion. And I have great respect for those who see and understand that social and economic justice is the essential foundation of peace and progress.
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