I’m gonna’ break one of my rules here and voice an opinion.

It’s grounded in a simple, deep-seated conviction that human beings were [and are] created in the image of God and are therefore dominant over every other living creature He formed in the universe.

We used to call that being more important.

Now some of my family and close friends would suggest that I don’t like animals because I rarely ever dote over pets.  But nothing could be further from the truth. 

When I was growing up, we always had a dog.  Everybody had a dog.  All the neighborhood dogs followed us kids around in a pack and played with us and we all knew whose was whose.  Hardly anyone allowed their pet inside the house because they were filthy and rowdy and couldn’t figure out how to flush the toilet.

These were some of the happiest pets alive.  When my twin brother and I were in our early teens, our family got a Dachshund which my parents allowed in the house from time to time. We loved to play with him and carried our “weiner dog” around with his back suspended between our hands which supported either end of his torso.  

We called him Count.

Count was entertaining.  He could never keep up with the other dogs because of his short legs.  Nevertheless, he brought our family a lot of joy and companionship over the years. We’d talk to him and tease him.  We’d throw a ball and hug and tickle him when he brought it back.  We fed him.  We took care of him if he got sick.  To us kids, it was like having the ideal sibling around—one that never punched you back or tattled on you or stole your underwear.

We loved him.  But, aside from those moments in time when he captivated us with his antics, our lives never revolved around him.

We all possessed varied degrees of affection for him.  But when it came to developing meaningful relationships outside of the family, none of us felt it was prudent to include Count in the process.  Nor did we feel it was necessary to include him in all the activities of our daily lives.

After all, he was a dog.

As much as we loved him, he didn’t have the capacity to develop and maintain cognitive interaction and respect at the human level.  He had rights.  He had the right to be loved, taken care of and protected from harm.  But he didn’t know how to respect the rights of anyone else.  As a result, it was impossible for any of us to try to connect with him on any other caliber than as a tamed animal.

After graduating from high school, I went on to receive a degree in Animal Science.  I loved being around and working with livestock, but I never sought to initiate any kind of emotional attachment with an animal.

And I think this was about the time I started to notice that many people were [oddly enough] beginning to place a higher value on any relationships they might have had with animals rather than human beings.  I didn’t think much about it at the time, although it was evident what was happening.

Dogs, cats, pets, etc., express gratification or needs through affection toward their caretaker, and it never comes with strings attached or emotional blackmail.  They’re never a source of heartbreak to their human companion with their words and [hopefully] only on occasion through their actions.  As long as their basic needs are met, they’re remarkably loyal and predictable.

What more could anyone ask for?

But it’s not like I’ve alway been immune to cheap emotional gratification.  I used to stuff any thoughts of difficult relationships or memories below my threshold of pain.  What I didn’t realize at the time was that, as I was suppressing those thoughts, I was replacing them with something more comfortable to think about.

It was an inherent human character flaw.   I sought relationships with things that wouldn’t bite me back.

But they didn’t wear collars and rub their wet noses in my face.  Unfortunately though, they did indeed bite back.  They were cravings for unwarranted approval at any cost.  They were the satiating effects of using alcohol, music or dabbling in immorality.  I was no stranger to the same type of impulsive replacement behavior that still seems to run rampant in our culture today.

It took too many years for me to realize that the the Lord’s purpose for human beings to effectively communicate and interact with one another can never be modified, edited or replaced with substitute gratification.  The inadequacy of any exchange or omission will eventually be exposed.

The greatest of all relationships are the ones our Creator desires to have with each of us and with each other.

I think we’d all do well to focus on that.

Just my opinion, of course.