I have loved my time here in Kathmandu, but there is one thing I have hated since the first night I tried to get my beauty sleep and that is the wretched street dogs. One bark sets off a chain reaction that can carry on for five minutes. It is truly one of the most annoying things that has happens on a regular basis in my life. The problem is that there are probably three to five dogs hanging out every one hundred feet or so and these dogs have no owner. They are literally street dogs. In America, this dog problem would simply be eradicated by the dogcatcher coming to my street snatching up the dogs, and a few days or weeks later euthanizing the dogs. This would never happen here though as the Buddhist culture demands that no life is taken and also in the Hindu religion dogs hold a special respect. The dogs then are as free as a lion in the jungle, having no natural predators in the city. The other thing about these dogs is that they are nasty. Many of them have mange. They are fed on scraps and this leads to them constantly being hungry. They also have no home and that can lead to more than a few people being snapped at. This constant list of problems has led a group here to begin a ministry to these dogs. They feed the dogs and try to find them homes. They bath them and following the advice of Bob Barker they have them neutered. There are even people coming from America and throughout Europe to help these dogs. I think overall this it would probably be a good thing if not for another problem found throughout Nepal.
The streets of Nepal while being overtaken by dogs are also full of children that are equally without home and regular supply of food. These children suffer many of the same problems the dogs do. They are without shelter, they are in need of a bath, they need medical help, a place to eat and a source of clean water. While these dogs are a huge problem and they are in need of help who should be helped first. Should we be feeding dogs while children are dying of problems as simple as not having clean water?
When I was in elementary school I had a teacher whose class I really enjoyed. There was something that happened one day that even as I young child I was confused to hear. The subject of physical abuse came up in class. I do not know if this is great subject matter for young children, but nonetheless is was the topic of discussion for the moment. The teacher began to talk about feeling sorry for victims of abuse. The teacher mentioned that while some sympathy was felt for women and children suffering from abuse the greatest sympathy felt was for animals, namely dogs. The reason for this the teacher said was because the dog could not tell anyone, while the child and especially the woman had a voice and could let it be known that abuse was taking place. I do not think this was meant to sound as harsh to my young ears as it did, but at that young age I was still dumbfounded.
There was a commercial that played a few years ago in the States. The commercial featured the beautiful voice of Sarah McLachlan singing the equally beautiful song “Angel.” The song was used to burn images of abused animals into your mind as they slowly flashed onto the screen. The commercial is very powerful. The idea is to make you feel sorry for these abused animals and if you can watch it and not feel such emotions you might need to check your heart rate. Over time this commercial began to have the opposite effect on my wonderful sister-in-law who now despises “Angel,” and also the same effect was had on myself regarding the commercial. Now, before I am exalted as a hater of animals let me clearly say that is not the case, but my allegiances very strongly lay elsewhere. This is a soapbox of mine so get ready.
Can a value be set on the life of a child and can that value be less or equal to the life of a dog? How can money be spent on rescuing animals when every country in the world has children that are malnourished, homeless, abused and forgotten? What is more important the life of a dog or a child? I think this is an easy answer for most, but lets take it farther, is the life of every dog including both those without homes and domesticated, while not forgetting to include even your beautiful full blooded registered dog with papers, of more value that any child’s next breath. While this is a question that may stop and make you think should it even come close to doing so. Lets makes this question simpler for you, is the life of every dog in the world worth the life of your child. Now that it is easily established that your child’s life is more important than that of any and all dogs, I mean could any of us trade our child to save the life of a dog. As a follower of the King that loves His children and also being one that should desire to have the same heart as the Gracious King is there a child in the world that has a life of less the value than the combined life of all the animals in the world. He has knit together every child alive today and desires that all of them are shown His love and He desires that all of them are given the opportunity to hear His truth. He desires that they are fed, bathed and clothed. He burns with rage at their abuse and his hatred is riled at their neglect. More than all of these though His heart is broken for them as many children throughout the world are taught to live in great fear and distress because of false religion instead of being taught that Jesus loves them. Are your hearts and is mine broken as well? The statistics indicate that they might not be as broken as we would like to believe
I am a member of a Southern Baptist Church back home and because of this I will use my own denomination in this case study. 2010 saw 48 billion dollars spent on pets in America, that is right 48 billion. The population is around 300 million people in America, so that comes out to about 160 dollars per person spent on pets. If we take that number and times it by the amount of Southern Baptist as reported by the SBC, which is 16 million, we realize that Southern Baptist give or take a few million or so spent around 2.5 billion on our pets. That is right we spent 2.5 billion on pets. That should already stick out as a staggering number in our minds but did you know that Southern Baptist Churches gave just under 150 million dollars to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering (for you non SB’s this is our convention wide offering to support SB missionaries). Lets review those numbers, 2.5 billion spent on pets and 150 million spent on misisons. 2.5 billion spent to make sure our dogs are fed and 150 million spent on Bibles. 2.5 billion spent grooming animals and 150 million spent to proclaim Truth to the billions of people dying in the world. 2.5 billion spent on vet fees and 150 million spent providing for those called of God to serve in a foreign land.
There is no doubting that God’s heart beats for the lost. We though have hearts that beat for our pets. I have been told many times to put my money where my mouth is on some of the strong statements that I have been known to make. The money in the Southern Baptist Church says that we care about pets more than giving to the cause of missions. I do not know how much you personally spend on your pets but I know without any doubt that you will not stand before the Creator and wish that you had spent more money on your pets or yourself and less on the King’s task, the task that all nations stand in proclamation of the One that desires all come to faith in the One True God who saves.
