Petization Process/Project (2026)
The big news today was the invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores—a shocking event to say the least.
The disregard for international law: the blowing up of boats in international waters in the Caribbean and in the Pacific Ocean; the calculated risk management followed by countries, including Canada, to let genocide go unchecked in Gaza, are all adding up.
To clear my head, I went on a walk. At 3 pm, the sun was already low in the sky. The cold and the wind of this early January afternoon were punishing. As I walked, I kept thinking of the world’s inequalities and the difficulties people face in the prospect of living together. I kept wondering why we are so conflicted and divided; we are together, but in smaller, segregated, tribalized units. And these smaller ‘togethers’ are increasingly disconnected from shared realities. The idea of universalism—that some values apply to all human beings—is under strain. The ‘Citizen of the World’ is not what it has been. It is as if we have willingly alienated ourselves from other parts of the world, as if our happiness is based on a certain estrangement. Is this how things are evolving?
From our travels, we may have just become too accustomed to seeing first, second, and third classes go about with their own sets of conditions. Maybe it helped shape the way we see the world; something like a giant layered cake. The cream, floating at the top, can, of course, do anything. As I walked, the snow crunched under my feet like Styrofoam.
Maybe as a whole, we have become numb from doomscrolling and the endless entertainment feed. Maybe we fell asleep with our ability to ‘watch when we want’ as if life were a buffet with endless amounts of ribs. There are no more seasons, no more schedules; harvest is 24/7. We all work from home in bubbles made of plastic. Maybe we have become unable or unwilling to identify the real from the fake. Maybe we are okay going along as long as gas (and heating oil) prices are not too high. The ads have made us who we think we should be, and we are adamant about it; if necessary, we will fight for it. Many are too preoccupied with saving one or two million dollars for retirement, and many are obsessed with luxury items, perfumes, handbags, and the lives of those living on the premium cloud. We are not bound by anything; our mindfulness, our detachment from others, is evolving. We don’t even have the time to think about it all.
And then, maybe, it’s all part of a “petization” process or project, not from “petty,” as in “petty details,” but from pet ownership, which has become increasingly common in the western hemisphere. Pets are now full-fledged family members, first cousins and uncles at the same time. They sleep in hotels, shop in stores and fly in airplanes. They don’t even stay outside like they used to; they sleep inside on their custom-made beds. For some pet owners, the life and well-being of their dogs or cats is more pressing, more emotionally charged than perhaps the life of another human being living in the street. It might make sense as they live with the animal, not with the ‘person on the street’. I am not saying that pet owners are heartless, far from that, and I would not blame anyone who loves an animal. I am just saying that this new set of circumstances has created a universe where many animals are more important than many people. Our empathy, like a peau de chagrin, has shrunk a little. And then, yes, maybe it’s this and that, and then again maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s a virus or a mutation in the human genome. Maybe it’s climate change, or the rising sea. Maybe there’s nothing we can do about anything except to go home to be with a loved one, a dog, a cat, a bird, before a bomb explodes.
As I arrived home, the sun had already set, and the big news was the same, or worse.
January 3/4, 2026