There’s no accounting for taste, including, it seems, in the kinds of pets one enjoys. Myself, I’m a fish person. Goldfish or tropicals, it really doesn’t matter. But no guppies, please. Who needs a million guppies?
Most folks, I know, go either for cats or dogs. At our house we get all the dogs we want from the two that bark constantly across our back fence. And because we have the only back yard in the neighborhood without a dog, the nearby cats think we’re running a feline sanctuary. We have a surplus of these pets without owning a single one.
Apparently there’s a real glut of pet iguanas these days. People buy them and then don’t know what to do with them. Some are being abandoned out in the neighborhoods. They look like a cross between a dragon and a green rhinoceros. Just imagine taking the garbage out some dark night and running into one of these guys (maybe one about five feet long).
In a city near here a fellow by the name of Harold Hicks had
a javelina, Hilda, as his pet. It was against the law. Bad ecology. The state
took her. Harold sued. The case was resolved by Hilda being placed in an animal
shelter and Harold receiving visiting rights. I say that if anybody wants
visiting rights with a javelina, that’s his problem. (A javelina is a wild
animal that looks suspiciously like an
The Lord created some strange animals. He also populated his world with some unusual people. Hilda is one of the strange animals. Harold either may or may not be one of the unusual people. No doubt Hilda thinks he’s pretty great, and I’m sure a number of people do, too. He has a real sense of loyalty and dedication. That’s good.
The Bible says we’re supposed to be long-suffering, patient, gentle, and forbearing with each other. For some of us, our friends have certainly suffered long just to tolerate our oddities. Love always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. We know God will remember this. Let’s hope our friends do.
Sociological ecology concerns itself with how various human groups relate within a given environment. The Bible was concerned with this long before ecology became a popular issue. There will always be people named Harold, John, and all the other names you know, who will test your perseverance in the virtues listed above, and who really need you to do well in them.
(Harold and Hilda’s names have been changed, but retain the alliteration of the originals.)