Did Hachi Suffer Needlessly?

Have you seen the movie Hachi? Do you feel for him? Do you think he suffered needlessly?

It's a heartbreaking story about a man whose dog greats him at the train station each evening.

(not Hachi)

One day the man drops dead at work, and the dog continues to wait for his master at that train station every day for more than a decade until his own death.

It's complete with violins and attempts to stop the dog from waiting. The man's wife moves away, and the dog keep escaping the back yard and going to the train station a few towns away.

Everyone I know - including me - tears up at the thought of such devotion, such loyalty, such hope and such love.

It is a very bittersweet movie. You know the story from watching the previews. If you like tear-jerkers and dogs, this is a movie to watch with a whole box of tissues.

Is It Just Me?

But I find that when I watched it, I wasn't just sad. I was also angry at Hachi's family. It didn't have to be that way for him. I was sad that the dog went through that when he didn't have to.

Getting Closure

If the dog had had a chance to see his master's dead body, of he had attended the funeral, then he

might not have gone to the train station to wait all those years. If the dog had had a chance to see the body, he would have known that his master was not coming back. He would not have wondered all those years. He might not have ached and waited and worried and hoped for all those years. To me, that's cruel to put the dog through all that. They have minds. They know what death is. We've seen videos of animals sitting with their dead friends. Why do we insist on thinking that they cannot reason on this basic level?

It's That Way For Humans

I know that my experience of grief was quite different with my parents. One died suddenly, and was cremated before I flew out for the service. The other died after a long illness, and had an open casket. I had never seen a dead body before, and it was strange seeing his dead boy at the service.

But it really allowed me to see the reality of his death in a way that wasn't possible when I didn't see my mother's body. My mother died so suddenly, she probably didn't even know what happened at first. My dad definitely had time to adjust to what was happening.

We Love our Dogs and Cats Because They're Like Us

 Mammals care for their young. They have the same emotions as we do. That's why we are so connected to our pets. And it's why they are connected to us if we spend time with them. We have empathy for our pets as they do for us. They know what love is better than most humans. They know what devotion is more than most humans. So I think it's only fair to the animal to give them a chance to understand, in their own way, when they lose a master.

How About You?

Has your pet lost a family member? How did s/he respond?