A soup kitchen has opened in Berlin to make sure that the pets of homeless people are well fed. From the story:
Despite the looming financial crisis, director Claudia Hollm dismissed criticism that it may be more sensible to collect money for humans than for dogs. “Nowadays people underestimate dogs. They are incredibly important for those who lack social contact with other humans,” Hollm told Reuters. “Making sure dogs don’t go hungry is just as important as making sure that people don’t starve,” she added.
No, it is not “just as important as making sure people don’t starve.” If one had to choose between feeding a human and a dog, we should choose the human.
Luckily, in the affluent West, we don’t have to make such a choice. So with the above caveat, I think this is a spendid example of human exceptionalism, that is, exercising our duty to humanely treat animals that are in our care.
HT: S. Jensen
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…