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Putting Human, Dog Lives in Perspective

* Re: “Killers of Youth Ordered to Pay $1 Million” and “Security Company to Pay $30,000 in Shooting of Dog” (both Sept. 6).

What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world.

-- William Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act II, ii).

In those lines, Shakespeare came close to an assessment of human value, but the juxtaposition of the two above-referenced L.A. Times news pieces really nails it down. Thanks to the L.A. County courts for wrestling with the tough questions. Always good to know the value of our lives relative to a dog’s.

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CHRIS RISELEY

North Hills

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