Balance

In one of my YahooGroups, a recent email / post message was:

hi all,
i found six young kittens by the road the other day, and their eyes and ears are still closed so i couldn't just leave them out near the garbage.
i've kittens of my own, and could not take them in anymore. if someone could please adopt them until they start eating solids.
most shelters like PAWS would take them in as long as they can eat solids already.
please help. they're really cute and seem healthy enough (they got really powerful lungs on them). there are
home-made kitten formulas from the net, so no need to buy the expensive ones. they just need to be fed as often as possible, and be tidied up if they do their business.
if someone could adopt them in 2s or 3s, it would be much appreciated.
best if pick-up is done in san juan because i can't bring them to the office for meet-ups.
for interested parties, please reply to my personal mail so we could coordinate.
thanks much!

One (or the only) reply went:

If there are no takers you might consider taking them to Luneta Park in Manila. The homeless there consume cat meat for food.

Then, chaos followed, many of which protested the reply was uncalled for. Old that I was, I remained a distant spectator, waiting for sense and sensibility (AW! )

Then, the underdog retorted:

We are into recycling garbage, right? Let us be clear about our goals and priorities here. By Ms. ___'s own account, the circumstances behind the misfortune of the six unwanted animals point to one single fact - they were garbage. As such, we recycle them. Sorry but I could not think of a better way to do it other than to use them to feed people who are in dire need of protein-rich sustenance. It's like hitting two birds with one stone - recycling and feeding the hungry.

And to the genius who called me an idiot, I'm sure you share Ms. ___ "garbage" mentality, treating unwashed and unwanted living things "by the roadside" as trash.

The "basureros" (garbage collectors) and the "patay-gutoms" (now, this is challenge--- dying of hunger? lol) should avoid crossing your path lest you might think of "recycling" them, robbing them the modicum of dignity to live and die like the rest of us.

It was some kind of an amusement for a nasty elder like me...

But if I were to rant and side anybody, I prefer the latter, making use of kittens to pacify some grumbling stomachs. What's the difference between a kitten and chicks (one day old, anyone?) anyway? There were arguments like "making this world a better place for "living and the non-living" and all that.

But I guess, civil society has gone so far as misplaced its priorities. Balance is side swept with "niceties" that just don't make sense.

How about "...if someone could please shoulder this child's education until such time he can can compete living in this civil world?"

How about "...it's only about $7 a month to make this vagabond kid stay at school and away from trouble... and you don't need an internet to help..."

We have a lot choices, that is probably the problem... but we all should pause sometimes, and care a little. It won't cost us much and you won't even notice...

Against indifference, I quote Dante:

The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality. - ~ Dante Alighieri