Choose to Educate Wisely

Let me paint you a picture of a recent conversation I had.  This took place between myself and an individual that we will call "Lucy".  Now Lucy is a pet owner.  In fact, she owns every different pet you can buy from a good shelter (cats, dogs, hamsters, gerbils, lizards, turtles, etc).  She is choosing not to have children, marry, etc.

Lucy:  I just unfriended someone on Facebook because they're bragging about their cat having a litter of unplanned kittens.  It's bullshit.

Me:  I don't know that they were bragging.  They're trying to find a new home for unplanned kittens.

Lucy:  There should BE no such thing as unplanned kittens.  Their cats should have been fixed.  They should have been taken care of.

Me:  Agree but sometimes stuff happens.

Lucy:  There is NO excuse.  There are too many unwanted animals in this world.  It's just like kids. No one should be HAVING kids when there are so many kids that need adopted.  The world is over crowded.

Me:  Having 17 animals in your little house could be argued, by some, as being the same concept....overcrowding.  There's balance in everything.  The world requires it to function well.

Lucy:  Typical of a breeder to say.

Okay, lady, let me get something straight.  You're allowed to judge more than half of the free world that has kids but I'm not allowed to point out your contradictory lifestyle.You see, the "Lucy's" of the world are giving real animal activist educators a bad name.  If your purpose is truly to educate others in order to make animals of the world protected, you aren't going to do it by being a judgmental hag. I've posted on this before.

So please spare me your animal rights speech if you're going to do the following.....

Have a house full of animals in which you leave feces all over your yard without scooping them up. This isn't any more safe or sanitary for the animals than the cause you preach against.

Feed said house full of animals cheap food that isn't nutritionally sound and then complain about how animals in other people's homes aren't properly cared for.

or more than that....

Yell at people for having kids instead of adopting.  It's a choice.

Judge people for choosing to have kids at all instead of just adopting animals.

Tell anyone that DOES adopt an animal that they're adopting from the wrong place.

Tell anyone that chooses to go to a zoo that they are ruining the world.

Refuse to listen to anyone else's position on the topic and just speak like some sort of paid expert or god on a topic.

Please, please, please choose to continue to educate people on animal safety and conservatism but please, please, please don't wash out any influence you may have on them by being a judgmental asshole.