In Europe there are no cats in libraries. Only books, readers and
librarians.
And sometimes some bugs, spiders, worms and other little beings, all
more living and helpless against a fire than those dead objects called
books which we librarians are supposed to care about. Shall we safe
them, too?
But who are we to judge our neighbors who prefer to save dead things
instead of living ones? Didn't our ancestors kill voluntarily some
thousand sheep, goats and calves to make up these books? Don't we take
millions of animals to slaughterhouses each day just to feed our
bellies with a good steak?
And then again, why should Mr. Tober need your advice to get a pet or
not? Are we only regarded as good members of the society if we love
pets? I donÄt hesitate to admit: I don't! In my eyes, pets are just
ersatz for people having communicative deficiencies, and a cat is just
an animal which has become too lazy to care about on its own because
we feed it everyday to buy its "love" for us ...
Guenter Kroll
--
Anne Marie Hules, MLS
Library Science Librarian
The Catholic University of America
Washington, DC 20064
202-319-5548
hules@cua.edu