Since we’re somewhat returning to the topic, perhaps I could repeat what I said earlier, which I thought was a reasonable stance we all could agree on:
Why don’t we just say this: be as responsible a pet owner and/or parent as you can be. When shit happens, do what you feel in your heart (and your brain) is right. Tell other people that if they want to live your life, they should pay your mortgage.
And hopefully this time around, it will be met with friendlier responses than “And then shut the fuck up about it,” and “You make an unpleasant assertion in an otherwise pleasant thread then get all put out because a handful of people disagreed with you.” But, who can say.
This thread will likely die now that most everyone has checked in. So, unless anyone would like to submit some more “I hate Lib and here’s why you should too” posts, I’d like to summarize my experience with it as follows:
(1) I’d like to express my appreciation to Snipe1978, Contrapuntal, Rilchiam, Dung Beetle, Cheesesteak, Fessie, Anaamika, Licentious Ectomorph, Foxy40, Elza B, Ca3799, StuffLikeThatThere, Jsgoddess, matt_mcl, Rick, Saoirse, Bryan Ekers, CaerieD, Caridwen, Auntbeast, dangermom, Jodi, Unregistered Bull, DianaG, Sad and Deranged (the OP of the MPSIMS thread), Nyctea scandiaca, Cub Mistress, The Swan, Missy2U, Flight, Ogre, Justpassingthrough, Gigi, Featherlou, The Flying Dutchman, The Lady, Guin, Stegon66, Sarahfeena, Tengu, MrDibble, Zoogirl, Kambuckta, Poysyn (for whom posting here was especially difficult), and to **Giraffe ** for banning the worst troll.
The vast majority of you were either supportive or understanding, and those of you who disagreed with me argued respectfully. Thanks for that.
(2) Unfortunately, the thread broke down when **Boscibo ** entered, proclaiming that this is all about him/her/it.
(3) Without calling out any more names: a poster who lied, saying that “everyone” was piling on me, called me a liar; a poster who called me down for calling names did not call down the one who called me a liar; a poster bothered to examine my time-stamps for two days and draw bizarre conclusions from them; a poster who said the thread was all about him/her/it complained that I was seeking attention; a poster who never failed to drop into a thread before to goad me said that I haven’t changed; and a poster characterized the following post from MPSIMS as taking a shit in the thread.
Here’s that post in its entirety:
I’ve become a cat person in my old age. I love what you did, and your new friend looks lovely and healthy.
We had three, but it’s a fairly big house. Jane (a male, long story…) died recently of old age (14 or 15), and we still have Great Whore Jezebel (Jezzie). She’s a fairly young (3-4 years old) loner, staying mainly on the third floor in the two bedrooms and bath there. She shows up once in a while to eat and shit, but hides completely when company comes. And then there’s Pretty Black Girl. She came with the house when we bought it. Our neighbor, who owned her mother, tells us she’s 14. She does seem a bit arthritic, and although she’s an outside cat (with all claws), we let her stay inside during bad weather. (She doesn’t like rain, wind, hot, or cold.) So she inhabits the basement floor, where there’s a sewing room, a library, and a heated/cooled garage. She comes and goes as she pleases.
I say all that to give you some perspective. I really do love cats. But…
My daughter recently had a baby. My first non-step grandchild. She did not hesitate to rid herself of her cat, and I support her decision a hundred percent. The infant child is way at the top of the pyramid, and everything else — everything — including the mother herself is somewhere below. Any risk, even a miniscule risk, of anything going wrong, and harm coming to the child is simply completely unacceptable. She did other things, too, to prepare her home. Neither she nor her husband smoke inside anymore.
She loved her cat, and she did solicit all her friends and family, and even advertised on the Net to get the creature a home. But nothing panned out, and she had no choice but to take the cat to a shelter. I just hope you won’t be too hard on the family that didn’t wait to see whether the cat and their baby got along. The infant child is so utterly helpless, you just wouldn’t believe. And we already lost one grandchild (my wife’s) to brain cancer. I’m glad my daughter made the decision she made.
Sad and Deranged, if that post somehow hurt you, insulted you, or made you feel even remotely that I had shit in your thread, then I regret that very much. It certainly wasn’t my intention. And since you haven’t complained about anything like that here, I’ll just assume for now that you’re okay with it. And for a final time, I’d like to express my admiration to you for what you did for the old cat.
Hope you saw their chief spokestroll yesterday before he was banned.