Quote: (04-25-2019 07:14 PM)Alpone Wrote:
My condolences to Vladimir. I've been there.
A few people mentioned losing a pet is the same as losing a loved one.
No it's not.
I like pets and have lost a few, too, but I don't understand worshiping them and treating them like people.
Actually you are 100% wrong and any psychologist would agree(I do have a masters in it). Grieving is often directly correlated to the sense of "loss", which is often related to the level of love one has or attachment.. We don't tend to grieve if there is no loss or loss of "little value". A loved one supposedly has value of course but we aren't making an apple to apple comparison ... spouse vs pet dog. Term loved one can include any member of our family that we are related to but have little emotions toward.
How about an aunt that you see once every 2 years? Will your grieve? Yes but you won't suffer loss since that person isn't in your life much to begin with. Your life has NOT changed at all. My mom died. I didn't suffer loss since I didn't see her in years and she never raised us.
When our cat died, WE suffered a big loss. He slept on my legs every night. He was a big part of our life. He even traveled to our other home with us. There was a daily routine. When he got sick we had more chores to do taking care of him. When he died we basically had a loss of routine.
My mom died I loss nothing. When you say comments like that it makes me think you never loss the love of a pet or had one in the 1st place. If one cares for another and invest time there is a big loss , as well as love formed. How is it that children can be adopted by strangers and loved by them? Same theory. Once you care for them you can LOVE them!
As for your comment about not treating them like people, that also makes little sense. We don't treat them "like people", but we do love them. Your a person .right? But I don't know you or love you and if you blasted off into space I wouldn't feel the loss so your point is moot. In reality most of us would probably run back into a fire to save our beloved dog(pet) first than the cranky old feminist women from across the hall(person). If you didn't, see which one you miss more! Rest my case!