Ever since Dad gave away the pet dog that we had, when we went back to Malaysia, we never had any pet dogs anymore. It’s happened when I was in Primary school, but the pain is still there.
We used to have a pet dog, can’t remember where Dad got it from. We enjoyed walking the dog at the alley of our rented shophouse. Once, we went back to Malaysia for a visit. When we return from Malaysia, dad lied that the pet was in his factory. As young foolish kids, we just accepted it as informed, and wait for our pet to come home. Apparently, he had read an article that claim dogs have parasite and gave it away. The new owner doted on our once pet dog a lot, and even let it sleep on the owner’s bed. Unfortunately, the pet eventually passed away from sickness.
I remembered I woke up one night, seeing my sister sobbing like mad. After questioning her, then I realised the once our pet dog, had passed away.
My fur friends
Years later, when I was staying in J’s home while looking for a job in New Zealand, I met a ‘new friend’. Kiki was once my emotional support when I was feeling depressed from the flooding of bad news. I chat with her during the daytime when I have words that I can’t share with my friends. She accompanied me through my most difficult days in New Zealand.
Kiki passed away in 2020. Although I seldom cry these days, I still tear for her.
Not too long ago, I got to know that Shiro had passed away.
Knowing how she was the emotional support for MY & her dad, I feel bad for them. Shiro was the ‘happy member’ when I was working in WS. Even when there are times I was not very happy to be in the office, she cheers me up whenever MY bring her to the office. So her passing away is another sad news for me.
MY had been sharing how her dad had been treating Shiro better than her. I know Shiro must have been his emotional support since his wife passed away. Had a few encounters and conversations with him, I wish he can move on and don’t take it too hard. Because I had heard of a case when the owner was already undergoing a lot of stress, and when his pet dog (his emotional support) passed away, he snapped and experienced a mental breakdown.
Emotional support
Recently, I got to learn T’s Instagram account was locked. She cried for days over it as she had been putting in a lot of effort
At times I wonder, if it is a good thing to find emotional support from a pet, or rather, a single “source”. Depending on others, regardless if it’s a ‘living thing’ that has a limited lifespan, or a ‘non-living thing’ that depends on machine learning and AI, definitely puts us in a vulnerable position.
Don’t depend too much on anyone in this world because even your own shadow leaves you when you are in darkness.
— Ibn Taymiyyah
To be frank, I have no solution to this. And I guess seeking emotional support is also part of the reason that makes us human. All I can say is that, do not depend too much on any external sources for emotional support. It’s not easy, but end of the day, we need to be our own main source of support.
What do you think?
