We've come to this

While away it was reinforced for me how much our individual world view is tied up with where we live. The US isn't one place, just as Europe isn't. It's thousands of places, each uniquely different because of the people who choose to live there. Take Colorado for instance. I once thought it was only Boulder you should avoid if you hadn't drunk the Kool-Aid. Now I'm not so certain.

My daughter sent this local television news story:

"Animal obits outweigh human obits in Crested Butte"

"It is unclear how many pet obits are published each year in the Crested Butte Newspaper, but Associate Editor Alissa Johnson says they outweigh human obits.

"We call them 'doggy obits' around the paper," Johnson said. "They can be anything from dogs to cats. We've had horses in the paper this week".

Jerry Deverell put an ad in the paper for his horse Dink when he passed away.

"We had a really great relationship," Deverell said. "I picked out a picture and said, 'I've gotta put this in the paper.'"

The ads are unique. They're filled with poems, goodbye notes and sometimes nothing.

"I think the most emotional one for me was where they were unable to write anything, so all we got was the picture and the dates," Johnson said.

Crested Butte is a community where some folks value animal life over human life."

This is a trend that hasn't caught on here.

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