Open Thread #759

I continue to watch the show Tomorrow, even though, frankly, the show veers from incoherent fantasy to disturbing reality, without much overall narrative logic, as far as I can see. It is, however, so sincere in its sympathy for people who are driven to attempt suicide, and so earnest in the inspirational messages it tries to convey when saving its characters, that its hard to dislike it.

Plus, who am I kidding: Kim Hee-seon. And the director was obviously catering to the huge and influential kdrama audience of heterosexual men in their sixties, because about every 3rd camera shot is a close up of her exquisite features.

But this week the show brought up an important issue that I think deserves a lot more attention: pet suicides. Even I, a life long pet owner, had not thought that many of unexplained pet behaviors were actually cries for help. For example, I had always been told that the strange disappearance of my first pet, Goldy the Goldfish, associated with the flushing of the toilet, was an accident involving one of my parents. But now I realize that Goldy, desperate to escape the constant scrutiny of its every action as it swam aimlessly around its little bowl, probably decided to flush its misery away. And was the gerbil, whose name I can’t remember now, actually attempting to run itself to death on the exercise wheel before it was snatched out of its cage by Oscar, our cat, playing the role of Grim Reaper Park Joong-gil?

Just after we watched the pet suicide episode, my wife and I were alarmed by a loud crashing of cutlery from the kitchen. Noticing that our somewhat portly Labrador had uncharacteristically wandered away from her pillow, we rushed in, fearing that the dog might have been made desolate by our attempts to put it on a diet, and was grabbing a knife to harm herself. To our great relief, it turned out she had simply hoisted her herself vertical, with two paws up on the counter, and had knocked some dirty dishes off trying to lick up a piece of kibble that had escaped her bowl.

Still, the next day, at the recommendation of her pet therapist, we took her to the park to chase squirrels and rabbits. Unlike suicidal pets, these wild animals seemed quite eager to avoid their own demise. (Not that they were under any threat from my dog, who has never come within 10 yards of what she chases). Our dog is once more contentedly snoring on its pillow. We can thank “Tomorrow” for its timely intervention!

Open Thread #759
Source: Buzz Pinay Daily