I think lately about our culture of consumption. I visited a pet store near my home Saturday, to take a niece to look at the puppies. The puppies were cute—and often 600 to 800 dollars apiece.

The large city near me is Dallas, Texas USA, which had to pass new municipal ordinances after its animal protection, lacking facilities to perpetually house abandoned animals, euthanized 23,000 pets last year, despite the efforts of literally hundreds of rescue organizations to find homes for the unwanted animals.

I read that this weekend the Animal Guardians of America, located in the Dallas area, hosts the “Black Dog Barkapalooza” this weekend. It turns out that it is much harder to place black dogs for adoption. They are difficult to photograph for internet postings. They are the stuff of legends about menacing big black dogs. They are discriminated against for the silliest reason of all—that they are the color black.

The past few weeks have seen the most substantial financial crisis in the United States of my (surprisingly well-) elapsed life.
Financial institutions, having experienced years of growth and profits with sensible investments and prudent underwriting practices, switched to a consumption pattern in which
“anything goes for quick profit”.
The result has been not only near collapse on Wall Street, but a nation of foreclosed real estate,
impractical vehicles, erosion of confidence, and conspicuous consumption gone awry.

Our small dog Beatrice stood two years ago in a cage at the McKinney SPCA. On her cage the attendants had posted a simple purple note that said “very sweet”. She is a black dog, who does not photograph well. She looks like a puggle—a cross between a pug and a beagle.

She cost us a reasonable shelter fee to adopt. She loves to chase tennis balls. She adds joy to our lives.

I think about a world in which people live just a little more simply, and with just a bit more thrift. In this new vision I have, people buy their food locally, donate cans to the local food bank,
share music and film for free, and adopt black dogs.

This song is a meditation about change, and misfortune, and the love of black dogs.