by Manidoo | Last Updated: January 21, 2024When Covid hit, my partner and I really went neck deep in finding ways of entertaining ourselves. I feel, like many, consuming content was the easiest avenue to depend on. For us, we found education to be our favorite. Documentaries, Books, and Educational Videos were what we found ourselves consuming a lot of.
One of our favorite rabbit holes is the YouTube channel, Crash Course. Created by the Vlog Brothers, Seth and Hank Green, Crash Course provides a series of videos from all sorts of topics. As the name suggests, you get a “Crash Course” on things like Biology, Computer Science, History, and more.
We ended up binging through the Mythology Course during quarantine. As edu-taining as the series was, one concept in the course came up that always stood out to me.
A Pet vs A Family Member, Cultural Differences?
Towards the end of the Mythology crash course series, the host, Mike Rugnetta, pointed out some differences between myths across the world. For many Anglo Saxon and Greek myths, there was a pattern of seeing animals as less than humans. Human were often depicted as superior beings and therefore either reigned over them and/or used them as tools. The animals are often depicted as being more ignorant than human beings. So very often they didn’t speak to humans unless these animals were physically anthropomorphized (e.g. Minotaur, Mermaid, Harpies).
In many other cultures, animals were anthropomorphized without needing to adopt human-like anatomy. In African stories, you have Anansi the spider. A commonly seen protagonist who carries on wisdom and mischief. His depictions typically don’t include any human body parts, rather Anansi remains physically as a spider.
For many Western Indigenous cultures, animals in various tribal stories are put on a equal level. They communicate and think similar to humans. Sometimes, these animals are shown as being wiser or more dependable than humans all together. The Anishinaabe creation story for turtle island is one such example. Of which, various animals communicated in humanlike nature, and were also necessary solvers to a huge obstacle.
Being an Anishinaabe myself, I have been taught many different ways to treat animals that I have felt differed from my non-native friends. Killing an animal, no matter what kind, is not something easily dismissible. Mourning is required in some form(Be it placing tobacco down or expressing gratitude if it’s an animal hunted). Sometimes, an animal can be considered a spiritual guide or an educator of life.
For me, this explains why my father never really let us considered the dog we adopted as a “Pet”. He repeatedly emphasized she was our sister. When I adopted my turtle, he also became more like a son. When one of them died, it was surprising to me when a friend suggested I should simply adopt a new one. I felt our sister held significance in my life as any irreplaceable family member could, and cannot imagine ever seeing them as anything less.
The First Family Member – Raven
Raven was a dog we’ve had for over 15 years. We adopted her for my sibling, after much hesitation from my parents. We later found out it wasn’t because of the typical parental reasons such as “Owning a dog is a big responsibility”.
Our parents insisted on a Border Collie. They felt like Border Collies were the most intelligent breed of dogs. One summer day, my father took my sibling and I out to a small farm to look at a litter of collies. We found one that could easily be seen as the runt. She was walked on by her siblings and often pushed to the side so they can get our attention. My father picked up the runt and instantly got urinated. That’s how we came to adopt Raven.
Despite being adopted for my sibling, she really became more of my mother’s. Wherever my mother went, Raven was close by. Needless to say, I feel we really babied Raven(All throughout her life she carried a chew toy in her mouth and would whine whenever she couldn’t find it). However, we still deeply loved her.
We had many fond memories of her, and brought her everywhere. Many pictures we took during the time we owned her, she was there somewhere in the image. I even had her out during my first date. Tossing the tennis ball back and forth with my future spouse, watching Raven try to catch it in between throws.
As I got older, I gradually noticed her aging. She was losing a lot of weight, her ribcages became more visible, and eating seemed to hurt her. She also had a very horrible time trying to walk. Often times, she would go to the bathroom inside the house instead of letting us know she needed to go out.
At some point, we noticed black-tar on the carpet. We learned this was a sign of the inevitable end of her life. She didn’t eat a thing out of her bowl for several days now(even when mixed with water). When we figured we should take her to the vet, a mood of depression set in. I was hoping there was some miracle that’ll save her, but we all just knew in the back of our head what taking her to the vet would lead to. Our final push for bringing her in was for the fact that she was no longer able to stand up. She laid down for over half the day and was completely unable to use her legs.
Her last moments were hard, and I still can’t forget that day. My mother was sick for days, my father moaned heavily, and I found myself trying to distract myself through working non-stop as a way to mask the pain. She was our first to go, and it was a valuable lesson for me. I learned the pain of losing someone you love deeply doesn’t really ever go away(I still feel sad writing this as of now). It’s just that over time, the pain gradually becomes easier to tolerate as you continue on living.
Will miss you and love you always, Raven.
The Second Family Member – Bart
When I was ten years old I really wanted a hamster. After we got our dog my parents opted to also buy an animal companion for me as well. My father took me to the pet store, and I excitedly thought I was going to get that hamster I long dreamed of. Instead, my dad told me “Hamsters die too quickly, you’re getting a turtle instead”.
I can’t remember how I eventually came to choose my turtle, but he has become my loving companion for over 20 years now. As a kid, I was really into the Simpsons(Probably an unhealthy amount), so the name was not the most creatively chosen. My spouse nicknames him “Butt” whenever he does something “Butt-like”. Be it trying to eat things he shouldn’t, dismantle his tank(At some point he managed to completely break his tank and caused a leak), or just generally being loud. This noisy turtle often gets the name Butt.
If not that, we simply call him Miskwaadesi(Misk-wah-day-sih). Which means painted turtle in Anishinaabemowin. I often consider him my little baby, despite being old enough to drink alcohol in America if he was human. When I’m away for periods of time I find myself often missing him. I remember seeing a charm that explained turtles are meant to bring joy in your life. For my tribe, a turtle is the symbol of truth. I feel when I do need to sort my thoughts, it’s helpful to speak them to him and imagine that he bluntly states the obvious back(i.e. “You’re overthinking this”, “Why would someone think badly for a minor mistake like that?).
Red-eared sliders are supposed to be lifelong companions. When kept in captivity, they can live for 50 years. I do not look forward to a day where Bart and I part ways. However, I am still fortunate enough to look at him blissfully(Even when he acts like a butt).
Earning the Scratch Off
So this is a rather off-the beat kind of post. A little different than my usual “Quests” posts relevant to my bucket list. For those who navigated through my Bucket Lists page, you may see that I am doing a variety of Bucket Lists. This one is the Gift Republic’s 100 Things To Do, “Own a Pet”.
I am working to make a post for every single item on the list. With each post completed I can consider myself able to scratch off the item.
