Warning: This entry is probably going to be very pissy/moany. What can I tell you, I'm a curmudgeon...
I'm walking the dogs today and I enter the park. Just ahead of me was some guy getting out of a city parks truck. He walks in ahead of me and then turns around, blocking my way. Apparently, we are not allowed to walk dogs in the park--at all, even with a leash. The guy was very nice about it, saying that basically it was a case of a few irresponsible people ruining it for everyone else. Walking their dogs without leashes, and when asked to leash them getting belligerent. There had been a couple instances of dogs knocking babies over.
I have no problem with any of this, I have no intention of going against a city ordinance. So I leave, go around, go home and get the other dog, go around again (I actually live right next to this park.) As I walk by the park again, I notice there are more city park guys just kind of hanging around and talking. As I go by they quiet down and start talking again as I get further away. There are an awful lot of city park guys around for some reason...
So this is just an example of the sense of entitlement that people have that just bugs me. You have a park where it is illegal to walk your dog but they sorta don't care if you do, because it's kind of agreed that if you want them to extend you this priviledge, you won't walk the dog without a leash. So not only do you flout this law, you act like an asshole if someone asks you to comply? I have no more patience for you my friend.
And you who are parents of a child who may be small enough to get knocked over by a dog, I have this to say to you: Why are you not right there, close enough to the child so you can see what is going on? Do we need to childproof everything so that you don't have to pay attention to anything? That parental sense of entitlement really bugs me.
And the thing that really burns my onions about the whole issue is the amount of people who look at having a dog as an entitlement, when, let's face it, there are people out there that are just not responsible enough to have a pet. I have been militantly pro-people-must-have-a-leash-for-their-dog since my cat was killed by an unleashed dog a couple of years ago. Not only that, but you must be paying attention when you take them out in public. I have heard horror stories about people just blithely going for a run with a dog on one of those really long retractable leashes and then getting out in heavy traffic with them, then being dumbfounded when the dog gets killed by a car. You are not entitled to risk the life or limb of another sentient being.
A woman on a message board was whining about how her dog had killed a cat and she was bent out of shape that she was actually gonna have to go to court and have some kind of penalty. I practically ripped her a new one. I believe if your dog has bitten someone or killed another pet, you have basically made your dog as much a victim of your stupidity as the harmed party.
Can you kind of tell I have a strong opinion about this? And then I find out from my mom that they are also talking about making cosmetic changes to the park, building bathrooms, etc, and I realize, "Oh, that's why they were swarming the park today." They haven't cared this much about the park the entire 37 years I've been living here, but since the city Beautification Committee wants a new project, this is how it goes.
To end things on a better note, I got my copy of Crowley's Liber Aba in the mail today. So I now have something to stick my nose in to find surcease for the sorrow of growing weary of the ways of man. I am being edified just thumbing through the thing, now I am going to settle in for a nice long read.
Sigh, end of rant.
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