In Reply to: Re: Intimacy/isolation posted by an other on June 08, 2004 at 15:27:32:
Regarding Family members and pets...
Someone in The Family was visiting our home, and told me at one point how much she appreciated bringing her children over because we have so many pets (dogs, cats, horses, birds, etc, etc, etc). She explained that in The Family it is very rare to have pets.
She said that one time, in a home she was in, someone got a pet rabbit. They all loved the rabbit dearly, and let it just have the run of the house. After several days, the rabbit staggered out into the group during devotions, and keeled over dead. They all kind of looked at each other trying to figure out why their only pet had died.
After a long investigation, they discovered that nobody had ever given the animal food or water during its entire time in the home.
Having never been in The Family, I was in complete disbelief that an entire house of adults, teens and kids could just forget to feed and water a live animal for several days. But, my wife (having been in The Family) didn't find it that surprising given the lack of life experience a lot of people have, and that Family people are used to being given specific jobs. In other words, everyone probably thought it was somoene elses job to feed and water the rabbit.