P.E.T.A.

P.E.T.A. (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)'s #1 enemy must surely be Russians. One of their biggest projects that they are always protesting against is the inhumanity of wearing fur. WELL, here in Russia, fur coats are not just a symbol of glamour, as the are in the States, but are really an article of clothing that people of all social standing want (and have). Why? Well, simply enough, because they are very warm. In our language school, I would say that roughly half of the teachers--female teachers, that is--wear fur coats. They aren't all mink or really expensive furs, but are also more common furs, like fox. My teacher, in fact, wears a fur coat. I asked her if it was much warmer than her other coats, and she said, "VERY."

And, now living here, I can understand the lengths that people go to to keep warm. After a patch of warm days where we almost reached above freezing, we are going back down below zero for the next week. And that is only here in European Russia. Siberia is currently -40 F. It was even lower than that a few weeks ago. All of this, of course, leaves the average Russian with a pragmatic view of wearing fur: if I can afford it, I want it, cause I want to be warm.

I was discussing this with a fellow missionary, Matt, who told me about an incident in Moscow that happened a few years back. It was a warm September day when some rather attractive female P.E.T.A. supporters (or perhaps simply women they recruited, I don't know which is true) decided to go to Red Square wrapped in nothing but a sign which said, "I will wear anything but fur!" or something to that effect. Well, in the newspaper the next day, there was a quote from a police officer on the scene which summarized the main Russian viewpoint. He said this, "I'd like to see them do that in December!"