Domo arigato, baby roboto

I like to try to tie things in together when I write these posts. Sometimes it isn't very easy, and sometimes, like yesterday, the overwhelming sadness of life's circumstances leaves me a little drained.

When I found that story about the Rent-a-pet disaster that they are calling Flexpetz, I wondered how we could treat animals as though they were commodities. To tie that into something would take two days, but here it is:

Japan has drop box for unwanted babies

TOKYO - A Japanese hospital opened the country's only anonymous drop box for unwanted infants Thursday despite government admonitions against abandoning babies. The baby drop-off, called "Crane's Cradle," was opened by the Catholic-run Jikei Hospital in the southern city of Kumamoto as a way to discourage abortions and the abandonment of infants in unsafe public places. The hospital described it as a parent's last resort.

So, there ya go - tie-in complete. While at first it seemed as though we (the humans) were treating animals as commodities, it has a neat little association with people treating babies like video rentals. Just drop them off. By contrast, I'd say that the animals are getting the better end of the deal. Suddenly, the pet rental thing looks pretty good by comparison.

Check that one off the list of things to which you can say, "Now I've seen it all".