Man as Beast?

yesterday didn't start well at all....my mom said that she saw the neighbor beating his 2dogs with a leather belt...the poor things are kept tied up together in a metal cage almost all the time only to be let out for this I suppose.... that leaves me with a question...does such inhuman behaviour give me the right to correct/educate him? Or am I as worse than him because I cringe inside but am scared/don’t walk over and do something about it..it’s almost the same when you are confronted with a wife-beating neighbor I suppose….do you say, “It’s their personal matter” and swallow your guilt or do you try and do something about it and deal with the consequences….

It’s not only this incident which has got me thinking….there has been a spate of news reports about cruelty towards tigers…I saw a video clip of villagers beating a pregnant, senseless tigress mercilessly…isn’t the word humane actually supposed to embody all the qualities something of a ‘higher’ species is supposed to embody- kindness, love, understanding of each other’s differences leading to tolerance?.....

Ok all this venting has to do with issues closer home…literally. My aunts who live downstairs have got a dog. Rather younger aunt rescued her from her previous owners who under fed, ill treated and chained her up all the time. The problem is that older aunt hates pets. She can’t stand anything that is not chained or caged. My parents don’t want a pet. Especially since we lost our own pet to cancer. And that is very painful. So all hell has broken loose. Nobody wants her. And in the middle of all this, I have fallen madly in love with her. She is so docile, is very cuddly and loves to sit in my lap…..I'm super scared and I don’t want her to go….

gift horse with rotting teeth, bad breath

what do you do when a loved one gives you something like this:

It's what we used to call a 'Mother Hubbard' sweater back in college. You know ribbed, buttons down the front and looking like my cat had bad fish last night. The biggest problem though is that it was given to me by my brother. Probably the one person who knows me the most. Which explains why I am so upset.

Does my brother know me so little to think I would willingly submit to be seen in something like that. Its a scary and life altering thought. And like with all good intentioned but out of place gifts, I have only one choice. I grin and carry wear it to the bus stop every morning, take it off there and put it back on the walk home from the bus stop.

Why do people give bad gifts? What makes an aunt believe that you will actually wear the light green salwar she has given you for your birthday when light green is the absolute last colour that goes with an Indian skin tone? Or what is the rationale behind bum chums gifting you a top 3 sizes too small because its 'sexy' and are then aghast that you don't fit into it. Or well meaning colleagues who gift you a purse made out of what feels like 'Original Lion Fur from the African Saharas' which you are forced to carry while your vegetarian-animal loving soul dies a thousand deaths....

No I'm not a material girl. I'll love you if you give me a 5 buck Cadbury's chocolate for Valentines Day and I'll love you even better if you don't give me anything. After all, its the thought, that matters. And with most people, I wish the gifting instinct stayed at that...

So existentialist question. Is there some kind of larger force at play that makes it necessary for all bad gifts to be gifted to me? Or do you have a better story?