Imagine being envious of a dog after it's been put to sleep.

[Bill Cady]

Lucky dogs

It’s an old expression indicating someone has found good fortune. Technically, the dog would be singular. In most cases.

Not so in every instance, however. The rather imprecise records on animal euthanasia tell us 3,000,000 – 4,000,000 dogs are put down every year in the United States. Some reports put it 50-100% higher. Many would adjudge that as less than lucky, but not everyone does.

A large percentage of those who think otherwise would call those dogs lucky. Blessed, even. In their opinions, the dogs who are gassed get a better deal than they themselves are given. To them, life sucks in every regard.

The people to whom I refer are the homeless of this country. Oddly enough, our total body count is similar to that of the deceased canines, some 4,500,000 homeless compared to the accepted number of euthanized dogs. I attest to having that feeling many, many times over the 4⅓ years I was living in my car. For longer than three years, my last prayer of the day was to ask God to take me in my sleep.

I didn’t want to be alive come morning. My preference was to die in my sleep, not that far from the relatively painless way dogs are put to sleep. The day I’d just endured was always enough to make me not want another one after a night’s sleep. I can also say with certainty I was not alone in feeling that way.

Can you imagine a lifestyle so horrible death was preferred? Is it even conceivable to you a relatively healthy man would ask God to terminate the whole thing while he was sleeping?

When I saw this picture posted by someone on FaceBook last night, the first thought to come to mind was how fortunate those animals are compared to so many homeless guys living a life so intolerable in every way. It seemed to be an example I couldn’t pass up. Being a one-cause-at-a-time kind of guy, I don’t plan to take up the crusade to stop the senseless death of so many great pets, or “could’ve been” companions.

Instead, I’ll continue advocating on behalf of those purportedly higher on the food chain than dogs, as I’m doing here. A cause I make clearer by providing a thought more likely to touch a soft spot in your heart. If you can do anything to help us change things so we wouldn’t prefer being dead to the hell we live in, please do it. Now.

I’ll always be a homeless guy as long as there are legal Americans without a roof, a bed and food to eat.

I’m just sayin’.

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