Why Can't We do this for Our Fellow Man?

I can clearly remember those stern St. Nicks nuns asking my not-so-eager fifth grade class what the most important Christian holiday was. With visions of sugarplums dancing in our heads, the unanimous and rather enthusiastic response was, "Christmas!"

Of course, Sister Paulina went on to explain that it was actually Easter for all sorts of theological reasons that were completely lost on a bunch of ten year-olds who couldn't get past the prospect of presents.

So given the nature of this day, I've been waxing a little more philosophically than usual. And that's always a dangerous thing. So throwing caution into that prevailing southeast wind one more time, I've been wondering why we move with such resolve to save abused animals, but often summarily dismiss our fellow humans who've had to suffer so much more.

God bless Rob Sauceda and all the folks at KC Animal Control who, acting on a tip, engaged the legal gears in such a way that more than 100 sick and malnourished animals were rescued from an animal rescue/petting zoo owner who clearly got in over her head. (We'll talk more about the success at Animal Control next week.)

And when Rob issued the call, which was subsequently echoed by local animal lovers like Laura Van Der Snick (I love Laura), more than 60 eager volunteers managed to move all those critters to a safe haven from two separate locations. Then they worked really hard to see that most of them were adopted.

I wanted to take one in myself, but my wife said that one old goat in the house was more than enough.

But as thrilled as I am with their efforts, this morning I found myself thinking, "why don't we do this kind of thing for our fellow man?