Life has value...but is it equal?

I have been seeing a lot of ads on tv lately about animals. You know the ones. There's always some pitiful dog with sad eyes or a dirty cat and sad music playing in the background while some celebrity asks us for money.

Frankly, I've had enough.

Yes, I value animals. They can be a beloved pet and can bring us joy. Yes they are beautiful, amazing creatures. Yes they have value.

But 'm not sending money to help them. Why? Cause there are starving kids all across the country that need help.
There are abused and neglected children that just need to know someone cares.
Animals have value, but never is their worth going to equal that of a human. They were created as part of the food chain. The food chain of which we, as humans, top. Every single animal on Earth can be eaten.
I grew up knowing real hunger as a child in poverty, and I know how much it means to have meat brought to the table. It was a real blessing that my father is a hunter. When we didn't know where our next meal was coming from, he went out and killed something for us. Or a friend did. Deer, rabbit, snake, gator, fish, whatever. If it can be hunted, we hunted it.
And since we lived in the country, we had many farming friends that would let us pick whatever they were growing in exchange for mechanic work or housekeeping.
We were lucky.
Not everyone is that lucky.
And I am disgusted by the obesity rate (of which I am a part of) in this country when there are so many that go hungry for days on end. I know why I over eat. I never want to feel those horrible hunger pangs that came so often as a child. That's why I have a garden of my own. Its why I don't let my cabinets get too bare. I refuse to allow my children to go without.
Its also why I donate to local food banks and hold auctions to benefit Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale.
There is so much we can do to help those living in poverty. Why not close some of those animal shelters and open up more food banks and soup kitchens? Any animal bought in a pet store should be spayed or neutered.
Use all available lots in the inner cities to make community gardens.
Allow hunters to donate what they kill to soup kitchens. Especially in places with over populations of certain animals.
I am a firm believer in getting back to our roots and bringing back the old way of life. If there were more farms, we can use the prison population to work them. Get rid of all those milking machines, and do it by hand. Frankly, we force cows to over produce milk anyway. (Adults don't need milk! When was the last time you saw a full grown bull walk up to a cow and start nursing?)
I've kinda gotten off topic, but the point is PETA, ASPCA and all those other animal rights activist need to focus on what's really important.
PEOPLE.
Save our own species before rushing out to save an animal that could feed a family. I guarantee that no other species on Earth is fighting to save us.

Belle-neck

Southern women are perceived as being of one of two classes.
There are the "Southern Belles", of course. The old money type that never gets her hands dirty. She dresses to the nines just to go brush her teeth. Her hair is perfect, and her skin is utterly flawless. She speaks with such a cultured draw that every word sounds as if it were honey flowing from her mouth. She never rushes. She never gets angry. She is the perfect woman.
She can flirt with anyone and make every man feel as if he's the sexiest man alive. But she's no slut. No, her eyes, heart, and attention are for that one special man. And it truly takes a special man to keep her attention.
She spends her days doing the most dainty tasks, because she wouldn't dare break a sweat or get a callus. Yea, she's perfect. A real lady.

Then, of course, there's the other side. The redneck woman. The one that always looks like she just rolled out of bed, and doesn't care. She's always carrying a kid on her hip while she gets groceries, cleans the house, does yard work, plows a field and works on the truck. She can beat any man at anything. She knows she doesn't need a man in her life. He's just another mouth to feed and person to clean up after.
That woman never sits down. She scrubs the floor, fixes the clogged toilet, attends PTA meetings, and has a hot supper on the table. Then she cleans up the supper mess (which she ate cold) before fixing everyone's lunch for the next day, makes sure everyone has clean clothes, and rechecks all the doors and windows, loads her gun, and then goes to bed.
That woman is a machine. She may be trashy, but she has her shit together!

I've met both of these women. Hell, I am both of these women.
A true Southern woman is the perfect mixture of everything. She can charm the most wild beast, then kill it, and cook it for dinner. She can look just as dainty as a pansy blowing in the spring breeze while she hangs clothes on the line and yells at her kids to shut the hell up and stop fighting. She can give her man the greatest night of passion, and seconds later jump up to rock her baby back to sleep.
A Southern woman is the most amazing being on Earth. A true gift from God.