A Paw, a Car, and an Avalanche of Sentimentality
Seriously? We’re celebrating this? Firefighters in Arizona patted themselves on the back for rescuing a dog whose paw got partially stuck under a car after it was hit by one? Lets all pause and weep over how incredibly fortunate this canine is. Because, you know, getting run over isn’t traumatic enough. It needed to have its appendage briefly inconvenienced by a tire as well!
I can just picture the scene: firefighters posing for photos with the bewildered animal, proclaiming it “lucky” while conveniently ignoring the fact that someones carelessness resulted in this whole ordeal. Lucky? The dog probably felt less than lucky. I imagine it was more along the lines of utterly terrified and now my paw is slightly damp.
And don’t even get me started on the inevitable deluge of heartwarming social media posts. Pictures! Videos! Stories of heroic rescue! Its all so predictably saccharine. As if we need another reason to feel guilty about our own perfectly ordinary lives.
Perhaps instead of showering this dog with undeserved praise, we could focus on responsible driving and keeping pets safely away from roadways? Just a thought. But no, that would require actual effort and responsibility. Its far easier – and more profitable – to manufacture a narrative of adorable rescue and bask in the manufactured glow of good deeds. Really, folks. A paw. A car. And a whole lot of unnecessary fuss.
