Animal Cousins

I see all of my pets and every animal in the forest as a fellow Earth Citizen. They have just as much right to live on this planet as we do. They should receive rights and our respect.

Although I feel we must minimize meat intake, I don't advocate vegetarianism. Rather, I respect the food chain. It's okay to eat a little meat on occasion.

For thousands of years we were the ones who lived in terror of faster and stronger animals. Somehow, we got smarter. We created tools to defend ourselves and to buffer us from the other animals. After a few milleniums this got out of control. Most of us have now forgotten where our McNuggets come from. We now live in this sheltered world apart from most animals. We move into the deep forests and when an animal frightens us we kill it. If a snake crawls into our McMansion garages, we whack its head off. What the hell, we are humans -- we are the bad asses of the planet.

Unfortunately, the "have dominion" lie has gone way too far. If we lived in harmony with our fellow creatures, we would likely better learn to live in harmony with each other. Instead, we call pest control companies to zap them, not realizing that we are destroying a balanced ecosystem that would survive on its own if left alone. There are birds and other bugs that would keep the annoying bugs in check. Life is all about balance and equilibrium, and evolution ensures that we will reach that point.

Strangely, we keep cats and dogs in our homes to, well, give us something to love. Cats are warm and soft and nice to pet and hold. Dogs are always loyal, which gives us an ego trip. How can these animals be loyal to us when few of our fellow humans are? We hold them and love them, and instead of sending money to starving people in Somalia, we spend billions on pet food. We ensure that they have yummy food snacks because we imagine we are enriching their quality of life, while we ignorantly desecrate our plant and lower the life quality for all living things.

A friend once told me that if I studied my pets I could better understand people. After all, we are all mammals and we all came from the same marsupials 150 million years ago. So, we are bros and sistas with the cats and dogs, and all other mammals. So, be nice to your cousins. We are all one -- we are all inhabitants together on this incredibly beautiful planet. Let us learn to live together in a respectful and harmonious way.