Annoyed

Everyone who knows me knows that I'm a dog person. I love dogs, regardless of its breed. I've strongly believe that if something is wrong with the dog, it's the owner's fault. However bad the behavior of the dog, it all falls back to the stupid owner.

My housemate got a toy poodle about 9 months ago when all of us moved into the house. Though David and I weren't exactly keen on the idea, we let him keep the mutt under the condition that it doesn't interfere with our daily lives or keep us awake at night.

The puppy, like any other, whined like nobody's business the first few months when she needs attention and I played with her for comfort, and also so that I can watch my TV series in peace without a mutt barking and whining in the background.

Days turned into weeks into months. The owner failed to potty train her and she peed everywhere in the house. At the point, David started to get irked. It started to get on my nerves when the bucket of wiped up pee is left for days until the house smelled like dog pee.

Then he got a boyfriend and moved out for months, taking the puppy with him. Truth be told that I was never so happy. Life without that mutt and him was certainly more peaceful and better. Less noisy, cleaner, quieter. It was blissful peace.

About three weeks ago, my friend who moved in next door gave us his refrigerator as well as a washing machine. Since the house has limited mains, the next available mains in the house is in the living room where the mutt used to stay, so David and I decided to place the fridge there, and a make shift eating table and chairs.

Two nights ago, owner and mutt came back. The dipwart placed the dog cage and the flea infested mutt right in the living room, next to the refrigerator and the eating table. As if that is not bad enough, dumped his stuff on the chair.

I came back to the house with my dinner yesterday, being welcomed by a stench of reeking dog pee. To make things worse, since the dog cage is right next to the eating table, it feels like eating in a dirty toilet! = =

This wasn't what David and I signed up for when we moved into the house. We didn't sign on to smell dog pee every day we come back from work or a house which reeked of dried pee when we wake up from our sleep!

I'm usually cool with having dogs in the house. I've lived with Emily and Jacque roaming freely in and out of my room when I stayed with Amy and Keith, and I know how that's like and I loved every bit of it. At least Emily and Jacque are well-behaved and properly trained by their owners!

Now all I can think of is: I want the mutt out of the house!

Kudos

First of all, let me start by saying that I hate kids. They drive me nuts. Especially those smarty pants who thinks they know everything in the world. However, today I am paying tribute to a 10-year-old boy in Arkansas name Will Phillips.

Unlike any other 10-year-old, Will Phillips gained worldwide attention when he refused to stand up in class to say the Pledge of Allegiance, an oath of loyalty to the republic of United States of America. The pledge which reads: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands: one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all," is predominantly sworn by children in school. What prompt the young man to his decision is because he saw a problem with the pledge of allegiance. "I really don't feel that there's currently liberty and justice for all," said Will.

To be specific, Will's refusal to say the pledge has to do with his strong stance towards equality for the GLBT community. Talking to Arkansas Times, Will's mother Laura Phillips said that "he's probably more aware of the meaning of the pledge than a lot of adults. He's not just doing it rote recitation. We raised him to be aware of what's right, what's wrong, and what's fair."

After discussing with his parents whether his decision not to stand for the pledge due to the injustice which prevents gays and lesbians from the right for marriage and adoption was against the law, Will took his stand -- or rather, his refusal to stand with the rest of the kids -- when it was time to say the pledge. This started on October 5 (Monday), when a substitute teacher happens to be in charged of the class. When the other kids in the class stood up to say the pledge, Will remain seated. Though the substitute teacher who knew Will's mother and grandmother tried to make him stand up, Will respectfully refuse.

Will did it again the next day, and the next day, with the substitute teacher getting more agitated each day by his refusal to comply. On Thursday (October 8) the two came head to head. "She got a lot more angry and raised her voice and brought my mom and my grandma up," Will told Arkansas Times. "I was fuming and was too furious to really pay attention to what she was saying. After a few minutes, I said, 'With all due respect, ma'am, you can go jump off a bridge.'"

With that, Will was sent to the principal's office. While the principal gave Will's mother a call, Will was given an assignment to look up information about the American flag and what it represents.

"She said we have to talk about Will, because he told a sub to jump off a bridge," recounted Will's mother. "My first response was: Why? He's not just going to say this because he doesn't want to do his math work."

Eventually, Laura learned from the principal about Will's refusal to stand for the pledge, where the principal admitted it was Will's right not to stand. It was then that Laura requested an apology from the sub for her son, which the principal told her 'I don't think that's necessary at this point.'

Laura posted the incident on Tweeter, a social networking site, and family friends who were ticked off by the happening alerted the news media. Support has poured in from around the country and attention is shifted to the small town boy.

Although some of Will's classmates are being supportive, there are also those who oppose to Will's stand. According to Laura Phillips, those who oppose Will's stand "are much more crazy, and out of control and vocal about it than supporters are."

Predictably, as Will's refusal to stand is over equal rights for gays, things took a more personally turn: "In the lunchroom and in the hallway, they’ve been making comments and doing pranks, and calling me gay," Will said. "It's always the same people, walking up and calling me a gaywad."

"It's really frustrating to him that people are being so immature," said Laura. To help him deal with peer pressure, Will's parents have printed various posts in his support, telling him that “people here might not support you, but there are people all over that support you."

When asked by the interviewer from Arkansas Times about what it means to be an American, Will answered: "Freedom of speech. The freedom to disagree. That's what I think pretty much being an American represents."

- jessism © 26112009 -