Hello and welcome to my new blog. My name is Kennedy and I'll be the orator of this page. This is my third blog. The first was for my Dane, Vegas (danescanq.blogspot.com) and I'm horribly remiss at posting anything there. The second is for my Pomeranians, Leo and Sophie (pompowered.blogspot.com). I'm also negligent in posting to that page as well these days. However, the purpose for this page is solely for me. My 'idealistic' goal is for it to be cathartic, healing, emotionally helpful. A secondary goal is if it perhaps is satirical, amusing, fun, and humorous, if not helpful to others from time to time.
So .... why "Opening Statements" for my first post? Well, a little background should help. When I was in high school I was determined to go to law school followed by a career in the DA's office with a quick rise to the DA and I was going to solve the world's problems - one case at a time. Many years before this I even believed I could be president. Fast forward through my career plans derailing and having an early marriage and even earlier child, I just worked and did whatever in between taking care of my kids and getting a divorce.
When the "internet" became popular and more accessible, I started live chatting online and made a good friend through a Yahoo group, Noah. After a couple of years he convinced me at some point when the topic came up that I could go to school. I had given up that dream to date but with perseverance, he prevailed. Initially I enrolled with the University of Phoenix to complete my early credit requirements and thought I'd transfer to another university to seek a degree in marine biology. Before too long I remembered my dreams of becoming a lawyer and discovered Phoenix had a criminal justice program. I set my path and began fully intending on earning my undergrad and then moving on to law school in the evenings.
Of course reality is something different and while I did earn my undergrad at Phoenix in Criminal Justice Administration, I didn't know where to go from there. So I kept working the job I'd had.
But the thing is, the driving force of who I was, who I am, it's about right and wrong. I've been through several custody battles with my ex-husband. I've been kicked around by the legal system and considerably humiliated and mistreated by the judge himself in family court. And my path began to blur. The judicial system was not all it cracked up to be. How could I make a difference? Wouldn't I just have to start settling for tiny things like jail time versus prison? A guilty plea with "time served" versus the book thrown at him? Would technicalities and procedural errors trump? How about space in the jail and the inability to even press charges? And don't get me started on the death penalty and how much we spend to convict a capital case then house the person for umpteen years through countless millions of dollars of appeals.
I couldn't compromise myself. I couldn't settle for "a little justice" instead of the whole kitten-kaboodle I'd envisioned so many years before. And I couldn't go to law school. I was raising my boys and working full-time to support us. Law school would have been 6-10 evenings plus every waking moment studying and reading and researching and doing homework plus working full-time. I couldn't be a mom and fulfill my dreams, too. But then there was the daunting student loan payments coming due. Yikes. So I kept going to school online where I could study at home at night after taking care of my kids...and got my masters in teaching. I'm still not using that. And the student loan debt still exists.
Fast forward again. For the past (nearly) decade I've been involved in dog sports which led to dog training and the latest is conformation. Wow, conformation. Never saw that one coming 10 years ago. And herein lies the dilemma and the instigator for this first post. Injustice.
I could be accused of seeing things too black and white sometimes. I can admit it. But I have this silly little expectation when I show my dog. I expect the judge to respect my entry and give me the same courtesy as every other exhibitor and fully look at and consider MY DOG. And I expect him or her to choose the BEST DOG based upon the standard only.
By now most of you - if any (readers) - are probably laughing so hysterically you can't see the screen or continue reading. Am I right? But it's true. Yes, that's what I expected when I went into this big adventure.
Are we all human? Do we all have personal opinions, preferences, likes and dislikes? Of course. But we should - when presented with a situation (especially one we put ourselves in) that asks us to be impartial and make a decision or selection based upon a written, prescribed standard, we should be able to set aside personal preferences, likes, dislikes, and choose only on that criterion. And maybe it happens. I'm told it happens. I'm also told it happening is like hunting for unicorns (Thanks, Kathleen; that made me laugh.).
The best you can do for yourself and your conscience is to promote your dogs, show them, even in a crooked system( one that occasionally requires a handler with an "in" with the judge) and carry on past that. I don't like the system AKC has fostered in Conformation, but try to "play the game" as honestly as I can, do everything ethically as possible, to satisfy my own conscience, that I did my best! Knowing all along those with advantages of knowing people in high places, people who have inexhaustible financial resources, that you did your best given what you have! In the end you can hold your head up.
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