The Last Dog

 Robert Reich has his last class:

https://www.thelastclassfilm.com/

How do you educate youngsters in a world gone mad that’s done everything to let them down?  And like me, how do you cope with being older and no matter what you do its never enough to satisfy the greed of the few?

Sarah Kendzior has her last roadtrip.

Taking time away from being prescient about this administration to give her children a last glimpse of beauty while it remains.

Nearly every day arrives with more of the bad news I’ve become accustomed to.  Desensitized, oh hell yes I am.  That’s what you get when you watch videos about the end of The Bronze Age, the fall of the Netherlands with their crypto-tulips and…population collapse.  Like what’s going on here:

https://youtu.be/QYA9i0KC0tE?si=sH_-EdZud_NWfzqj

I’m far beyond the point of tears welling up, much less crying.  But when I hear things like people having pets instead of children, it’s frustratingly relatable.  I suppose I’m just bitter still.  An oddball at high school, surviving by pretending I wasn’t as smart as I am.  That stopped working by my mid 20’s.  Too long in contact with generations trained to detect and divert anyone more intellectual than themselves.  It became too much of a burden, so isolation it was.  Isolated except my dogs.  When I finally bought a place of my own the only real requirement was a fenced in yard.

I had two at the same time previously.  I did adore them and cherish the memories.  But this is about The Last Dog.  Hereafter called LD.  The dog I wasn’t going to get, but couldn’t help myself.

To get to the point right away, that way I can focus on the trip down LD memory lane, affordability of a pet is now a serious issue.  I had consciously made the choice to not have children or even a steady companion.  Finding a girl willing to tolerate me long term seemed out of the question.  At least my budget allowed a dog.  And I wanted a real dog.  One big enough to scratch on the head without bending over much.  No little yappers for me.  After the first two I told myself, that’s it.  Things are going really badly in the world and the expense and time to treat a dog properly.  Nah.  I’m done.  Until the day that the idea of fostering LD was brought up.

The evil plan worked.  And I knew before I even picked him up for the foster that the adoption was a done deal.  The big eyes and freakishly large tongue.  Including the first night in his new home, LD was never put in a crate.  And it was never a serious issue.  Sharing a bed with a 90 pound dog that was at a minimum neglected and probably forced to be outside including all kinds of bad weather, he was far too appreciative to deny him access to anywhere in the house he wanted to go.

LD is a senior dog now.  Fortunately this isn’t the eulogy yet.  Not only is he still hanging in there despite old dog problems, he still gives signs of enjoying himself.  Less frequent, less enthusiastic for sure.  But he’s still *living*, not just existing.

Fascists, economically are takers not makers.  And now I’m pretty sure I’m immune to the idea of ever allowing another dog in my life.  The desire is there, but even with the gnawing at my conscience about how I could give a rescue a better life for awhile, the takers have ruined it.  LD’s old age caretaking is way too expensive.  Forming a sort of social contract with a dog, a bond, would end up being a let down. Forget about taking a dog for a walk anytime after 10am during the late spring, summer and early fall where I live.  And that’s not even a place normally associated with high temperatures.  Just like would be parents pass on children due to the condition of the world, pets will be only something affordable to the better off.  Even if I magically got more solvent instead of settling for a modest retirement plan, it just doesn’t seem fair to the potential next dog.  Like LD now, the spirit being there, but the inability to run and stretch out and play in the grass.  Why would I subject myself to that?

At one point I did have an exceptional rough stretch and considered giving up on LD.  Pretty dark times.  Which I got over with more human contact than I’m used to.  Just in time to find out that I was right (again) and the world of the takers was reaching its tentacles throughout the internet.  I too can double down on a concept.  The one constant that keeps me going is giving LD the dignified retirement I doubt I’ll have.  And why should I expect to get a break in a world that facts don’t matter anymore.

Morbidly, I take solace in that the rich person hobbies of golf, skiing, hunting, boxes at sporting events.  Those things are already turning out badly (expensive) as temperatures rise.   Well, no sympathy here.  Fuck you.  If I can’t afford a canine companion because you want a trip to Europe every year…if I can’t walk a dog more than 15 minutes without baking his feet on the pavement.  Screw you.  You’re the ones that wanted to price fix and bubble and do insider trading your way to feel intellectually superior with your material goods.  You never have, never will know the companionship of an LD quality dog.

Don’t click this non existent link for a nonexistent fundraiser:  ⏹️

LD will be just fine.  He had someone that cared about him more than he cared about himself.