You made the wrong call. I don’t care how much Kate loved that dog. PRETTY SURE after her dad was dead she would’ve traded the dog for her dad in a heartbeat.
The truth is, I’ve long claimed that we value pet life over human life in our society. A few years ago as a blogger I was involved with a campaign for Toyota where they were giving a car away every day to a non-profit, but there was voting involved. Animal charities won FAR more often than people charities did. It made me crazy. The Facebook voters in that contest proved time and time again that they valued animals over humans — especially humans with disabilities.
(Don’t believe me? Read this testimony from a UK dad trying to raise money for the fatal muscular dystrophy his son has. He’s facing stiff competition from dog charities, while children are dying.)
I don’t blame the This Is Us fire episode for depicting this phenomenon — in fact I think the show proved my point. Human life is far more valuable than animal life. If you have animals, treat them WELL. Love the crap out of them. But for the love of the humans that depend on you, DON’T give up your LIFE for them!
I realize this opinion will be unpopular and I am bracing myself for the furor that will ensue because I have dared to say dogs are not people. But basic fire safety says, “once you’re out, don’t go back in.” If you’re trying to save a HUMAN, I can give you a pass on plunging back into the fire, but our four-legged friends don’t have souls, no matter how badly we want them to.
So, as we remember Jack Pearson, the beloved TV dad who is not a real person, let’s remember with sadness that he’d probably have lived to see his kids graduate high school if he hadn’t gone back in for the dog. And then, like good children of the 80s and 90s sitcoms, let’s apply that TV lesson to real life.
(Oh, and P.S. — I don’t have my cats anymore. In his 20s my husband developed severe animal allergies, even though he had grown up with three dogs, he is now very allergic to dogs, cats, and pretty much any pets with dander. So after he had to be on THREE different asthma medications just to breathe, I decided that his ability to breathe was more important than my love for my pets, and found them new homes.)
