Leaving Dogs To Die

Glenn Reynolds has a roundup of lessons we can learn from Katrina. Most of them are good, solid and sound. I was reading through the post, nodding happily along. Then I get to the very last part:

Indeed. Reader Jeanne Jackson makes a point that seems trivial but isn't, in light of experience:

One important item you missed is providing evacuation plans for citizens with pets. One reason many people remained behind in New Orleans was that the emergency shelters barred pets, as did the buses, etc. for transporting evacuees. For many pet owners, especially childless and/or older people, pets are surrogate children. It is cruel, heartless, and unnecessary to insist, as a condition of rescue, that one's beloved dog or cat be abandoned to its fate. Were I to be told I must abandon my dogs in order to get out of a life-threatening situation, I, too, might choose to remain behind and take my chances.

I think you should leave the dog behind. But lots of people feel differently, and evacuation plans should recognize that.

I thought for about 10 seconds. Leave the dogs behind? I got that sick feeling of hot lead in my stomach, and envisioned a scenario where we were faced with certain disaster and I had to make that stupid Sophie's Choice. I see myself in a shelter, hearing about the mass devestation, and I know that I would die of heartbreak at the thought of my dogs being brutally killed or worse--living through the storm only to starve and turn feral.

I realize that this probably strikes most people as completely insane. Dogs aren't people, and they aren't worth a human life, apparently. That shows a gross misunderstanding of what dogs mean to many people.

My dogs represent a commitment I made to Life. They are indeed my surrogate children, yet they are more than that. My relationship with my dogs is as close as I can come to a picture of Christ's relationship with me. They have done nothing to earn my love for them...I just do. They are far from perfect, as our carpets can attest but I persist in treasuring everything about them. I think our Heavenly Father undoubtedly feels the same way about us. I certainly didn't have to adopt these dogs, just as God did not have to create mankind and sacrifice Christ to bring us into renewed relationship with Him. But I sought out these dogs as a way to express my love, much as God sought Adam in the garden for long conversations about nothing.

There are many days when I am prone to wander...to leave the God I love. Following Christ is not easy in a world that seems to prize self-interest and ambition about humility and sacrifice. For the last six years, I have been able to focus on the pure joy that my dogs bring me with just their loving faces. I then think of how it must break the Father's heart to not have us there at his feet and how much He must miss that adoration. He doesn't need it, obviously, because He is God. Yet He paid the highest price to ensure our presence with Him. Knowing that, I can't foresee any situation where I would betray the faith my dogs have in me.

I know that it may seem expedient to leave a pet behind in search of the high ground. Then again, what does it profit to gain the whole world but lose your soul?

And for those who don't completely understand...replace "dog" in Glenn's comments with "4-year-old child" and tell me what you think of it then.