Money Troubles
May 10th 2011 21:00
Brett has been moaning a lot to me lately. He’s been telling me how sad he feels whenever he sees the boys.
“I feel I have to do something about them,” he says.
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to fight the urge to panic.
“Well, I still haven’t found a place to live and they still have to stay at the boarding house and I’m looking at how much I spend just to give them accommodation. It’s ridiculous.”
“You’re not going to give them away, are you?
“Well, that’s what some people do. They get cats from the pound, give them a home and when they are unable to look after them, they return them to the pound.”
“You can’t do that!” I squawk, enraged.
“They’re costing me over two hundred dollars a week just to house them.”
“So? Look at how much rent you’re saving by living with your parents. Even if you’re paying two hundred just to house the cats, you’re still three hundred ahead.”
Brett looks at me as if I have no understanding of what it’s like to have money problems. Sure, I did buy a Fendi handbag a few months ago but that was extremely painful to pay off and I’m in no hurry to make the same mistake again. I’m not happy. This isn’t the first time he has implied he might give up the boys.
“Two hundred is a lot considering it’s just to house two cats. We’re not talking about housing humans.”
“Don’t give me that double standard crap,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s what people seem to think, oh, it’s just a cat so why should I be going to all this trouble to keep it when it’s not even a human? To me, it’s the same as having a child. You would never give up your child if you couldn’t look after it properly so why shouldn’t that be the same for pets?” Or, as philosopher Peter Singer would put it, speciesism is just another form of discrimination.
Brett had no answer to that one. The night soon ended. It was not a successful evening.
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