"Birth" Order: How Some Neopians Treat Their Pets by vikingphantom |  |
CUTE CITY - Recently, I was reading an article in The Neopian Times, when a
small phrase caught my eye: "My favourite pet..." A harmless phrase, and I'm
sure the author meant little of it when he wrote it, but it made anger swell
up inside me. I absolutely HATE favouritism. Who doesn't? I'm sure most people,
at one point or another, have experienced it, and I am also sure they didn't
enjoy it. For those of you who have no clue what I am talking about, favouritism
is when one thing is favoured over another. If you still don't know what I'm
talking about, does this sound familiar? "It's not fair Mom, you like him better
than me! He gets all the good toys...."
Well, after reading that phrase, I decided to look into the matter. I first
took a look at my own pets. My first pet was very happy, had all my good Battledome
items, was bloated, and had the best statistics out of all my pets. Looking
at the rest, I realised they were never played with, hadn't been fed in weeks,
and were as weak as the day I got them. I was ashamed. Here I am lecturing on
how cruel it is to have favourite, and I don't even treat my pets equally. Was
it truly (As I hoped) only a select few Individuals (Including myself) who treated
their pets unfairly?
To answer this question, I started asking around. First stop: The message
boards. I found a good Neopian willing to do an interview. littlecruxis has
four pets, so she was a perfect person to interview.
Me: "Hi how are you?"
Littlecruxis: "I'm Fine. How about you?"
Me: "Good. Thanks for asking. Do you, out of all your pets, have a
favourite? If so, was he/she your 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th?"
Littlecruxis: "Yes. My favourite was the first."
Me: "Do u have a reason?"
Littlecruxis: "Yes. I love Gelerts, her cloud colour, and named her
after someone I really care about."
Me: "That's nice. As far as your other pets, are they treated equally
as your favourite?"
Littlecruxis: "Well, not exactly. I don't neglect them, but I don't
go out of my way to take care of them like I do for my Gelert.
Me: "Well, thank you for your time, and I look forward to speaking
with you in the future."
Next, I went back to the message boards, where I took a poll to find out how
many Neopians, had favourite pets, and if they were the first, second, third,
or fourth "Born." The overwhelming result was that most had favourite, and their
favourite was their first-born.
Kind of sad. Why did these results turn out the way they did? To find the
answer, I reread the interview with littlecruxis.
The first question I asked her was if she had a favourite pet, which birth
order did it fall into, and did she have a reason. She answered, that she did
have a favourite, her first, and the reason was she loves Gelerts, her cloud
colour, and named her after someone she really cares about. Lets take this apart,
shall we? Her first reason was that she loves Gelerts
Everyone, think back to when you picked your first pet. Most of us browsed
the gallery, looking at each individual species, and when we finally picked,
we picked the one that we found most appealing, right? Well, that would mean
that unless you were getting the same species, next time you went to pick a
pet, the species you picked out wouldn't be your first choice, therefore being
less likeable than your first pet. Second, she says she likes her cloud colour
Once again, with the exception of specially painted pets, when you pick your
first pet you are going to choose a colour This would be the colour most appealing
to you. When you go to choose another pet (If its the same species), you probably
aren't going to choose the same colour (who really wants clones?) Lastly, she
says she named it after someone she cared about.
Everyone, when I say NOW, think about someone you care about. NOW!!!!! OK,
now think about someone else you care about. Do you care about the first person
you thought of more than the second? Chances are, the answer is yes. The reason
for this is when I asked you the question, the answer that first comes to your
head is the one that has the biggest impact on your life, the one you think
about most, or in this case, the one that means the most to you. Now, the same
principle applies even if you didn't name your pet after someone you cared about.
When you named your pet, the name you chose for it was most likely your favourite
name. When you went to get another pet, you couldn't name it the same name,
so you had to settle for second best.
Well, I guess that's the end of the article. It's only human nature to have
a favourite pet, but please, try to treat all your pets fairly. Just think,
what if those pets were your siblings and you were your parents. Would you want
your parents to prefer your brother or sister over you? |
