I have watched many of my friends become pet people. I have heard their very convincing arguments about pets and their abilities to love unconditionally. Those were the same friends who tried to convince me that children are the best part of any marriage, even if you married for love.
As a child and up till I was a teenager, I was very much a pet person. I had a few of them—cats, dogs, a turtle, and some birds. Yet, I don’t recall ever thinking that my pet is the source of love or unconditional love. I remember having fun playing and running around with the dogs. I appreciated the companionship and I felt safe. However, I never saw it as a relationship based on unconditional love.
Pets are very much broken in, domesticated, trained, and paid to love us. We pay them in food, water, shelter, and care. We do everything for pets the same way we would children. We don’t give pets much of a choice, do we?
Unconditional love doesn’t know leashes, cages, or treats. It is an act of free will.
Pets and children are great outlets for us to project the kind of unconditional love we wish to see in the world. However, we fail to project it once it requires consistent efforts and free will. We train our pets to return home to their cages, and we call it an act of love.
To some, unconditional love is possession and blind obedience.
To me, love is a choice and freedom.
