David Strom:
DeSantis promised to hunt down the miscreants who left a pet to die, and he did just that, to the applause of Floridians. I don't know if the dog was chipped or wearing a license tag, but law enforcement found some way to track down the owners and take them into custody.
It may, to some, seem a small thing and beneath the attention of a governor facing multiple crises to have law enforcement track down the irresponsible owners of a pet, but I beg to differ.
It is about preserving civilization. We track down and shoot looters in a crisis not because we value THINGS above lives but because we need civilization in crises. When civilizations face crises, the civilized are those who put things back together. People descending into barbarians in times of crisis are even more dangerous than the uncivilized when things are going well.
Resilience depends on people being decent to each other. It is why we highlight stories of heroism and sacrifice especially when things are going off the rails.
Not everybody can be a hero, and that is all right. Heroes are heroes because they go above and beyond.
But everybody can and should be civilized, and DeSantis is reminding everybody that this is the minimum standard in our society.
# posted by Ranger @ 5:57 PM
