Is it ridiculous to spare the lives of small animals?
A while back I was listening to talk radio and the host of the show said something that made me think. He said, “It’s ridiculous to spare the lives of insects and small animals because as humans we need to recognize that we are above these creatures.”
I disagree. In my opinion it is our human ability to feel compassion and mercy for all life that defines us as superior beings. With our superior intellect comes stewardship. It is our responsibility to protect and care for every miraculous spark of life that has been placed on this planet. Our ability to see and recognize the miracle of life gives us divine responsibility. This man’s logic would have us on the level of animals, killing without regret, not highly intelligent beings with conscience and the ability to reason. I understand that we all need to eat and there is a time to kill, but if we don’t have the sense to determine when that time is and when it is not, what does that make us?
Tags: animal protection, animal rights, animals, life, stewardship, the earth, the sanctity of life
Good point. The thing that differentiates us from the animal world is our knowledge that survival of the fittest is not the only way of seeing life. If we see think of survival of the fittest as the only way of seeing things, then we are no different than animals, and if we don’t see things that way, then we respect all creatures, and feel a connection to all life.
- Chas
Wow. What really bothers me about that quote is the idea that we are better than they are, so their lives don’t matter. That’s exactly what leads to genocide, serial killings, euthanasia of the sick or “damaged” and so many other killings in our world. In short, that logic can be so easily applied to human beings who we see as “below” us for some reason that it’s terrifying. And, anyway, who decides who is “above” and therefore worthy of life?