Rented Friendship ???

You know we have let our priorities get WAY out of control when you see headlines like this one:

Rent-A-Friend in Japan

It's a story about a 'Cat Cafe' in which busy people can pay by the hour to bond with 'professional pets'.

It strikes me as eerily similar to prostitution, in one sense. No, not THAT sense, another one.

In both instances, money is exchanged for satisfaction. In both, someone offers a short-cut to the meaningful satisfaction that is rightfully found within a reciprocal relationship.

Whether finding gratification with someone else's body (for a paid hour or so), or with someone else's pet (also for a paid hour or so), they both seem to indicate an emptiness and disconnectedness larger than the symptoms themselves.