Do we give our pets what they give us?
When Andres and Diana got married, Luna bore witness. Luna is a Pekingese pup, and she signed the marriage document with her paw print. This happened in Ecuador, where a new law allows for pet-friendly marriages. Rest of the world doesn’t have this legality. But it’s the same emotional truth everywhere: Our pets are often the truest witnesses of a human life. They are present for life’s unphotographed parts. And present in the same way, whether you become CEO or lose your job, whether you are a social media junkie or you abhor it. Their attentive, loving gaze provides a profoundly nourishing form of recognition, even if it isn’t, as humans think, linguistic. Still, there is an uncomfortable dualism to all this. Your pets are a part of your family , but most of you also think you own them.
If your pet completes you, what do you offer it in exchange? Why reduce your pet to a supporting character in your story? When two conscious beings interact, they should bear mutual witness to each other’s existence and value. Look at it another way. Andres and Diana will be the principal witnesses to Luna’s entire existence. They alone will remember the first day she came home, her awkward puppyhood, favourite stick, and how her muzzle will turn grey. If pets are the best witnesses to our lives, we owe it to them to become worthy witnesses to theirs.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
