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| "Dog running with Tennis Ball" - www.modogfence.com |
In the essay My Life
as a Dog author Jonathan Safran Foer discusses the issue of off-leash hours
for dogs in the New York City parks. Being a dog owner himself, he takes a lot of
pride in the value of letting a dog run free. He makes multiple arguments to
the importance of not only off-leash hours, but of preserving the park itself.
The most interesting argument to me was his argument of the similarities
of dogs and humans. Foer explains that he feels his dog has emotions, and wants
and needs. He believes that just as he views his dog as mysterious, she views
him the same. I can relate to his perspective because I lived with a dog for
ten years. Over time I feel it is almost impossible to not for an emotional
connection with a dog or pet. He then goes on to explain that their morning
walks together are equally emotionally beneficial for both of them. He even
calls their walks the best part of his day. I feel this does a very good job of
getting the reader emotionally engaged in the writing, but in my opinion it was
not the strongest argument of the essay. Foer could have done more research
into the health benefits of walking, for dogs, to support his point here. Some
form of statistics or evidence to back his thought would have made them much
more powerful.
In my opinion the strongest and perhaps the most eye opening
argument was that of the importance of the park itself. Foer explains that due
to the price of real estate in New York City the current value of Central Park
is half a trillion dollars. This opened my eyes the most to the value of parks
and nature in New York City. With the value of land, in such a metropolitan
area, that high the importance of having a park where people and animals can
roam freely is equally as high as the price. Therefore, due to the low amounts
of natural land, the ability for people and animals to coexist is very
critical. This made me see the bigger picture of the importance of keeping
off-leash hours in the parks of New York City.
