Bambi and Philosophy

I'm sick. Colds suck. If I were going to be sick, I would rather it be with something worse than a cold on the weekend so I am actually facing something worthwhile. Instead, I feel miserable and forget for a whole week what it feels like to not be sick.

On Saturday, September 6, 2003, the Florida Gators and Miami Hurricanes faced off in an epic game. The same holds true five years later, even though it wasn't as big as ESPN was trying to make it sound. On that day, long ago, the Gators were up by several touchdowns over the team that had made it to the championship game the last two season. I was not watching this, though. For, you see, the Pace family was in the pet store at the Tallahassee Mall hoping to adopt a new cat.

We had a black cat named Domino my whole life until I was six and in first grade when he had to be put down on Halloween because of organ failure or something I didn't understand so I hid in the closet and cried all day. He was an evil cat who attacked anyone who got near him, but we all grow fond of pets when you have them their entire lives regardless. The next year, Carmel the dalmatian (yes, that is how you spell it; nothing irks me more regarding the entire dog world than someone spelling it "dalmation") joined. She is still hobbling around, old so that every night for the last two years I've feared walking outside and discovering her dead.

While I was away at my cousin's ninth birthday party, my family adopted another dog for reasons I don't know. Jack is a Labrador retriever named after my mom's brother who was taken in earlier this year by some family in Massachusetts, or somewhere very far away, I think, because our neighbors are evil and make him bark and then go crazy about it.

On that Saturday night three weeks or so into my sixth grade school year, we left without a cat, but with a Senegal parrot I would name Aerial and a long-haired miniature dachshund to-be-named Molly. The Hurricanes would go on to make an amazing comeback and defeat the Gators, something I remember them doing again against Louisville the next year on the same day as my field trip to EPCOT. I got home and everything went downhill there. I have since learned not to tune into games when I need the team I hate so dearly is getting crushed improbably or else I will regret it forever and still be able to remember about it years later, like in this case.

INTERMISSION

Yes, that's right, this is a two-part post. I don't think it will even be as long as my lengthiest entries, but I have something about my past and my philosophy that aren't related. I only came up with this part an hour ago after reading an article after it had a headline on Yahoo! Not the best credentials, but there's something to it. Also, yeah, I had the idea about posting about September 6, 2003, come to me several days ago when I realized this freaky occurrence at such a major anniversary as five years, exactly (Miami and Florida haven't even played in a couple of years).

My title for this post exclusively refers to this section. The article I am talking about is at http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/dogs-perceive-time.htm and will make you hate me for its encouragement for what I am about to say.

Animals don't have souls or complex feelings and emotion, if any real, like humans. While this doesn't mean we have the right to purposely harm them (though many hypocritely will, or ask someone else in fear, swat bugs) for no reason, I still consider humans much above animals. That's why I find it funny when people get crazy over animals not being treated "humanely." As crazy as it seems, Bambi is not as realistic as you might think it is.

The article isn't that long and talks about animals perception (or lack thereof) of time. All animals have similar thoughts (or lack thereof). It also adds something to my long-standing belief, to which I think a saying for it also exists: Time is human's greatest invention. It's one of the most defining things that separates us from them.

I cannot go anywhere without my watch.

I would go on to the philosophy part (if you really want to know, ask me about it), but I have already spent over half an hour typing this up when I should be getting some sleep. This is not because I am sick but because my mom will force me to go to church this morning so I can get everyone worshipping the Lord sick. I will have no problem going to school on Monday and giving students the cold, though. Just kidding.