My question here is: can animal euthanasia be morally right? And why is it wrong to talk about euthanasia in people, but it is accepted as a form of "caring" to take your dog, for example, down to the local vets and load its veins with a lethal injection? Why is there a difference?
I am in two minds to this right now. My heart says that it is wrong to kill an animal, but can it be right to allow it to suffer? A creature can not tell us how much pain it is in, nor how ill it feels. In fact, it can't tell us anything at all. By making such decisions, we are, in affect, playing God with lives that are not our own. So how do we know if it is the right thing to do?
As humans, we are in the unique position to make decisions that will affect animals for better or worse. I think that we should treat this position with the respect that it deserves, because it is one of great power and responsibility.
Sunday, 30 September 2007
Saturday, 29 September 2007
Killing the root of your fear
Why do we seek to destroy the object of our fear? Think about it: we fear the darkness so we flood our homes and streets with light, the very sky we live beneath glows orange at night with light pollution and obscures the stars; We fear wolves, so we made them extinct in the UK; we fear spiders, so we squash them; we fear rats, so we poison them.
Why do we do this? Is it because it's easier than dealing with the fear itself?
There are some moral issues here too, aren't there? We wouldn't kill a dentist, or ban dentistry forever, because some people have a phobia. Of course not, a dentist is a human. So what makes it okay to kill a spider, a snake, a wolf, a rat, etc? Why? Because they exist? Because they are only animals? Isn't that just typical of us humans to be so arrogant?
I've come up with some thoughts, which I've listed below:
1. Killing a spider won't cure your fear of them. It might stop you being afraid once that spider has gone, but the fear will return when the next spider crosses your path.
2. Fear is a derivative of ignorance.
3. Beware of self-fulfilling prophesies. i.e., a rat is more likely to run away from you than bite you, but, like most creatures, will attack if it is cornered (if you corner it, you will make it fill your prophesy). Wasps don't sting unless you anger them, i.e. by waving your arms around screaming, or by trying to swot them.
4. Sometimes, by removing the source of your phobia can make your fear worse. Take darkness, if you live surrounded by light, even with the sulphur-tinted "darkness" of towns at night, you'll be more afraid if you find yourself completely in the dark.
5. To cure a fear you have to face it head on, until you realise there is nothing to be afraid of.
Why am I writing about fear at all? It is because I know quite a bit about fear: sometimes I become very anxious for no apparent reason and become afraid of everything. I start to fear the dark; I get a fear that someone is in the house and I can only relax when I've checked every room. It's like every fear becomes exaggerated and painful. I get stress headaches, stomach cramps, acid problems, my muscles get so tight that they begin to ache.
Happily this doesn't happen very often anymore. I know how to spot the warning signs so that I can deal with it before it gets bad. I know from experience that I have to find the root of my fear and realise that there is nothing to fear at all except the fear itself.
It's starting to happen again, and I know what the trigger is. I've been dwelling on my past. It's like a vicious circle, but one that I know I have to walk the path of in order to get through it and be free of fear again. I know that I have to let go of the past in order to be free, but it's hard sometimes. So hard.
Why do we do this? Is it because it's easier than dealing with the fear itself?
There are some moral issues here too, aren't there? We wouldn't kill a dentist, or ban dentistry forever, because some people have a phobia. Of course not, a dentist is a human. So what makes it okay to kill a spider, a snake, a wolf, a rat, etc? Why? Because they exist? Because they are only animals? Isn't that just typical of us humans to be so arrogant?
I've come up with some thoughts, which I've listed below:
1. Killing a spider won't cure your fear of them. It might stop you being afraid once that spider has gone, but the fear will return when the next spider crosses your path.
2. Fear is a derivative of ignorance.
3. Beware of self-fulfilling prophesies. i.e., a rat is more likely to run away from you than bite you, but, like most creatures, will attack if it is cornered (if you corner it, you will make it fill your prophesy). Wasps don't sting unless you anger them, i.e. by waving your arms around screaming, or by trying to swot them.
4. Sometimes, by removing the source of your phobia can make your fear worse. Take darkness, if you live surrounded by light, even with the sulphur-tinted "darkness" of towns at night, you'll be more afraid if you find yourself completely in the dark.
5. To cure a fear you have to face it head on, until you realise there is nothing to be afraid of.
Why am I writing about fear at all? It is because I know quite a bit about fear: sometimes I become very anxious for no apparent reason and become afraid of everything. I start to fear the dark; I get a fear that someone is in the house and I can only relax when I've checked every room. It's like every fear becomes exaggerated and painful. I get stress headaches, stomach cramps, acid problems, my muscles get so tight that they begin to ache.
Happily this doesn't happen very often anymore. I know how to spot the warning signs so that I can deal with it before it gets bad. I know from experience that I have to find the root of my fear and realise that there is nothing to fear at all except the fear itself.
It's starting to happen again, and I know what the trigger is. I've been dwelling on my past. It's like a vicious circle, but one that I know I have to walk the path of in order to get through it and be free of fear again. I know that I have to let go of the past in order to be free, but it's hard sometimes. So hard.
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