This is "Be Kind To Animals" week. I'd like this sentiment to extend throughout the year of course! It's easy to be kind to our companion animals, although we all know the Humane Society wouldn't exist if everyone was kind to their pets. So may I suggest that we extend our kindness to non-companion animals?
I know you won't be surprised if I suggest this could take the form of not eating meat or buying anything made of leather or supporting a circus that has animals in it. If that sounds radical just imagine someone doing to your cat or dog what's done to those animals. Why is it OK for animals who aren't our companions to be treated badly? Don't they suffer? Yes, they do.
I know you won't be surprised if I suggest this could take the form of not eating meat or buying anything made of leather or supporting a circus that has animals in it. If that sounds radical just imagine someone doing to your cat or dog what's done to those animals. Why is it OK for animals who aren't our companions to be treated badly? Don't they suffer? Yes, they do.
Fortunately there are places that take care of farm animals that have escaped or been rescued. One I want to visit is the Farm Sanctuary; they have one in New York and one in California. This video about Farm Sanctuary was meant for kids, but we're all kids at heart! Enjoy.
2 comments:
It is so painful for me to think about or watch the reality of animal life in the world. More than any thing else, it reminds me of the shame I feel in belonging to a species whose members, despite their great faculty and unlimited ability for compassion, choose to live mildless lives, oblivious to how their selfish living impact others, including helpless humans.
Yeah, people walk through life with blinders on, either intentionally so they don't have to change what they do, or out of ignorance. Somehow the latter bothers me less; it's those who are aware of the suffering of animals, children, the elderly, others generally less fortunate, and the environment, that really bothers me. How selfish to not put themselves in the other person's shoes (or paws.) Would you suggest that they haven't reached Erickson's final stage of development?
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