All Dogs Are Not Born Equal

Just found out that there is a new cable TV station that caters to dogs, called DogTV in San Diego. It’s mainly for the canines that are left at home while their owners are at work.
The programs are to soothe the dogs that may suffer from separation anxiety and to keep them relaxed and entertained. Researchers have discovered that dogs like shows with other dogs in them, shots of dogs playing and chasing balls.

Poor Asian dogs! They don’t have a cable network devoted exclusively for their entertainment. The western dogs really have it good, with a country club that provides day care while their owners are at work. According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, Americans spent more than $45 billion on their pets in 2009 and a growing number of American households with pets are spending more than $4 billion annually on grooming, boarding and doggie day care.

Most Asian dogs are kept to do guard duty. By day they are caged and by night let loose to roam the house compound to guard the premises against intruders. The luckier ones especially the smaller ones may be let into the house, there again to do guard duty. Their teenage owners may play with them in their spare time, otherwise they are left pretty much alone, usually asleep or looking bored.

Worse are the non-pedigree canines that were bought because they looked cute when they were puppies but lost their looks as they grew older. When their owners get fed up with them, they are simply abandoned and left to fend for themselves.

Those who do not want their pedigree pets anymore will leave them at pet shelters. Often the numbers are too many to handle and they have to be put down.

Of late there have been campaigns to educate the public about pet keeping and pleas to adopt these abandoned pets instead of purchasing from pet shops.

Pets are not fads but meant to be life-long companions, to be cherished and not ill-treated or treated with indifference.

However, there appears to be a growing trend for the affluent young in the cities to pamper their pets to the extent of not only sending them for grooming but also dressing them up, just as one would dress a child, complete with accessories. Truly, not all dogs are born equal.

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The Big C and God’s Divine Mercy

Cancer – the very word strikes terror into our hearts. Some prefer to call it the Big C rather than give it sound, as though the very utterance is contagious.

More and more people these days, are diagnosed with this disease, often in the prime of their lives. It has to do with diet, the environment and to some extent, genetics. The disease runs in families that have defective genes that are prone to it.

Medical science has progressed with the development of new drugs to counter the disease. Sometimes the battle is won at heavy cost, not just financially but physically and emotionally. Drugs destroy the cancer cells together with the healthy cells. Chemotherapy is debilitating, to say the least. The patient suffers during treatment. The carers and the family members suffer along with the patient.

When my younger sister was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she was at the fourth or terminal stage. The doctor gave her at most six months or she could be gone within two. Her cancer had spread throughout her body, affecting her liver as well.

Fortunately her will to survive was strong. Her son was only twelve years old, in form one. Our family and friends rallied around her, giving her strength and praying constantly for God’s mercy. Praise to the Lord who answered our prayers. She went into remission and although the cancer re-surfaced later, God gave her an extra four years, during which she was able to see her eldest daughter get married.

Never underestimate the power of prayer. It is even more powerful when many pray together. God answers prayers. He is always there for us whether we realize it or not. All we have to do is to call on him, pray faithfully and miracles will happen. It happened in my family when God gave my sister four years while the doctor gave her at most six months. Praise be to God for his Love and Mercy.

Today her children are all doing well and have done her proud. It’s been ten years but she’s still very much alive in our hearts and minds.

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Valentine's Day

What does Valentine’s Day Mean to You? Who celebrates Valentine’s Day?

There are legends attached to this Day and it is celebrated in many countries throughout the world. One of the oldest tells about St Valentine, a priest who was persecuted and imprisoned by the Roman Emperor Claudius II because he refused to turn his back on his religion, Christianity. Before he was executed, he healed his jailer’s daughter of her blindness. On the eve of his execution, a note was sent to the girl whom he had healed and befriended, signed “From your Valentine”.

Through the years, February 14, St Valentine’s Day evolved to become a day when friends and lovers expressed their love for one another. It has ceased to be of any religious significance.

Today it has become very commercialized with restaurants offering special menus to celebrate the occasion. Jewellers have jumped on the bandwagon by promoting jewellery in the shape of hearts to symbolize love. The newspapers have advertisements of heart-shaped pieces of jewellery from various jewelers.

Florists import lots of red roses as they carry the message of love. Men will buy their beloved red roses and chocolates as well as jewellery if they can afford the outrageous prices.

Others may send special valentine cards.

I remember in my school days, our teachers encouraged us to make our own valentine cards to give our friends with the message “Be my Valentine” as they told us that Valentine’s Day is also a day to celebrate friendship as well as love. We could also give Valentine cards to our family members.

It was never a Day when we had to spend lots of money. I remember exchanging a self-made Valentine card with my best friend. However things became more exciting when cards were received from anonymous admirers who may have been too shy to reveal their identities, especially from members of the opposite sex.

Today it seems de rigueur to give your girl friend or spouse red roses and have an expensive evening out, dining and wining in restaurants. A gift is also expected!

Unfortunately, there have been fallouts when this practice is not followed, usually due to a lack of money. So what should have been an enjoyable evening turns unpleasant and hurtful or humiliating to one partner. Expectations run high in a materialistic society especially when there is competition and peer pressure, the need to do what everyone else is doing and to go one better.

Some couples decide to get engaged on this day while others tie the knot as they feel it is romantic to do so and they will find it easier to remember their anniversary.

However, there have been controversial statements made in the press that celebrating Valentine’s Day is a no-no as it is perceived to encourage immoral liaisons, that it is a western practice that Asians can do without. As the cliché goes, the world is a global village.

People usually do what others do, what more with the barrage of advertisements calling for reservations for Valentine’s Day dinners, love tokens, roses and all the rest of it. All I know is that it has become an expensive occasion and the more sensible ones will just enjoy the evening as they see fit, with or without the roses.

What is more important is that Valentine's Day is also about celebrating friendships and remembering your friends and it's not all about lovers only.

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