Showroom Dummies
Song of the Day 09/09/2022
Showroom Dummies by Señor Coconut
After paying an extortionate bill at the veterinarian’s office the other day, I couldn’t help but think that my dog’s will to live was being somewhat exploited. Fair, some argue that having and caring for a Labrador is a contemporary luxury, less exotic than owning a tiger, more ambitious than having a goldfish, easier to maintain than a horse. Even if you think you’re doing the dog a favor, no matter how much the dog loves and depends on you, it isn’t a natural right to have one. Expensive vet bills are the consequence of ownership, sort of like condo fees. Legally, dogs are seen as little more than property, like chairs and consumer electronics. The closest metaphor would be to cars; many people love their automobiles more than their dogs, and their kids. Well anyway, dogs are expensive commodities. I still don’t regret it for a second, and would gladly blow all my meager savings on anything Alfie, my Labrador, might need.
A vet bill is pricey. They (the powers that be?) know the sensitive relationship humans have with their pets. It’s a little unreasonable to charge more than $150 for a check-up. I pause for a second while thinking this. If a dog’s will to live is exploited, what about humans? Rent, utilities, taxes, personal supplies, food, travel expenses, not to mention health care, which often runs people thousands of dollars per year for the most essential of services. We didn’t choose to be born the way we decided to adopt a dog. What I’m writing is nothing original, I know. I’m sorry about that. It’s just a thought, a thought I wanted to share. It costs a lot of money and time to maintain a regular, banal life, with tons of energy and will required for the upkeep of our bodies, moods, belongings, and pets—two separate things in my eyes; if it has a pulse, a desire to live, it’s not really a belonging. It’s, well, a friend. Something alive that relies on you. Calling it property always feels to me a little bit perverse, but perhaps I’m a softie.
At its core, every life is banal, no matter how rich a person might be. It’s only perspective and interpretation that can make it interesting, transcendent. Maybe also a feeling of creating something—it doesn't need to be unique, just something. Social affairs, a sense of faith, and a genuine interest in the culinary arts can help move things along as well. Pets, friends, reliant entities that are conscious and alive, add great meaning when all else fails to inspire. There are ways to build, there are always ways to build.