I am humbled by several of you who have encouraged me to resume blogging. I realize that some of my comments are controversial, but I don't care anymore. There are too many taboo items that need addressing. There are too many giant dead elephants in the room. We live in the era of hyper sensitivity, and too many people are afraid to bring items up for fear of hurting someone's feelings.
Some feel their belief systems are beyond reproach. If you question, you are labeled as a bad person or "messed up," as my mother has described me. So, if some radical Jihadest wants to behead me or people want to ostracize me at a party, well, again, I don't care. I'm getting old any way. I've spent a lifetime observing our dysfunctional world and not saying enough to oppose the craziness.
Okay, blog-ettes, let's dive into today's rant.
Human Arrogance
The whole idea of humans having souls likely started becoming hip about 50,000 years ago. Some early cultures believed ALL living things had spirits. But in the Christian tradition, humans have souls and not animals. Then there's that passage in the Bible about having "dominion" over all the animals, and the idea that God put them on the Earth for us to use and abuse. Like, they are all ours.
To the contrary, we should treat animals with RESPECT and think of them as our friends and neighbors on this planet. I do NOT think I am better than my cat and dogs in any way. They are superior to me in many areas -- speed, smell, hearing, agility. My big advantage is the opposing thumb, which allows me to build things and open cans of pet food. And they are just looking at me, sort of pissed, because there is NO WAY they can get a dog biscuit out of the cabinet.
I once met a lady who felt that animals should have representation in Congress. I'm all for it.
When humans die, many arrogantly want a grave marker to memorialize themselves for posterity. Hey, no one goes into cemeteries anyway except for genealogy hobbyists. No one really cares. Find one of those "natural" cemeteries or heat the world up some with your smoke. That's once puff of carbon that will be acceptable -- you'll go back to the stars from which you came.
Humans are also arrogant in that the first thing we do when boys are born is sexually torture them with circumcision. Some religious traditions believes that God likes this — it's like God is perfect and made this perfect being, but we are going to whack their penis foreskin off anyway to make God happy. I'm not following the logic. Other animals don't do this.
Vegetarianism is another form of arrogance. We are part of the food chain. Though meat intake should be minimal, it is part of our natural cycle. The important thing is that all animals are respected and given a quality life before their automated execution (got to have those chicken nuggets). We should all eat free-roaming, organic meet. Factory farming is disgusting and needs to end. We can find healthier and cleaner ways to get our protein.
Yes, we are smarter than a few animals. Rather than having dominion, which is pure crap, we should commit ourselves to being the caretaker of our fellow creatures. Animals should not be our pets -- they are colleagues, friends, and fellow Earth citizens. RESPECT THEM and LOVE THEM.
Every time I see a dead animal on the road, I hurt. We arrogant humans drive around in metal boxes and slaughter thousands of poor opossums, armadillos, racoons, and other night animals. It is the injustice of this that angers me. Yes, I've accidentally hit a few animals in my 37 years of driving, but I also go to extremes to avoid them. I also stop and help turtles cross the road whenever I see them.
Today, while cycling on the Silver Comet Trail, I was going through a section that had erosion barriers on each side of the trail. This cuts off animals from their water, food sources, mating, etc... WHY DIDN'T ANYONE THINK ABOUT THE ANIMALS!!!! I saw a squirrel climb up on one of the barriers and jump over — as he flung himself over he was almost crushed by a cyclist. Again, it's the unfairness of this that upset me most.
During my years as an environmentalist I've been accused of putting animals before humans. Well, no — I believe all animals and people should live in harmony and in a sustainable manner. Once again, the humans get the unfair advantage. They build their settlements everywhere and typically overpopulate, which, in turn, causes poverty. Desperate people then do desperate, harmful things to their surrounding environment, which not only hurts the local wildlife but also the next generation of humans that must live in the cesspool created by their parents. Plus, not to mention the fact that we are filling the ground, water, and air with thousands of chemicals so that our hair will look fuller and our teeth will be whiter. I mean, what the hell? We as a species do not HAVE THE RIGHT to poison and pollute our world – this planet belongs to millions of other species that have just as much right to be here as we do.
