Monday, April 7, 2008
This past weekend I went with my family (minus my college-living sister) to check out Cedarville and Taylor University for possible enrollment for college. After we looked at Cedarville (Ohio), we drove down to a lodge in Kentucky where we stayed the night. In the morning, I found this stray cat in the parking lot who seemed to be a regular prowler. I love cats. I chased it down, made some of those enticing cat noises and succeeded in making the cat come next to me. And come next to me it did - it skipped all greeting formality and proceeded to rub it's fur on me as it circled around my crouching figure. This went on for quite a while before I tried to tempt him to follow me back to my lodge room (hey, the cat was cute!), but then I gave up because it turned out to be too much work (now I'm glad the cat didn't come in...)
Before we left the lodge after breakfast, I found the cat again sitting at the brink of the forrest, while I was carrying my bags to the car. We went through the rubbing procedure again, and then I found some crackers I had taken for the trip and gave him some. Such a cute cat. Now, I am not allergic to cats - but my theory is that the cat carried with it out of the forrest every imaginable allergenic possible... hence the cat's itchiness and wanting something to rub off on. The next three hours or so in the car was a snot-infested Hell. My nose would not stop running, my eyes were extremely irritated - quite a difference for a guy who doesn't really experience allergies. But the fact of the matter, I would still go through the same cat encounter again, if only for the love of the cat.
But isn't that sort of stupid? Get all snot-nosed and eye-irritated again for a stupid cat? But that's how a lot of people are toward their pets/animals. We've all seen commercials of people talking to their dogs, or serving cat food on a pillow, and that mindset seems to take a definite form in society. I've seen dogs wear jackets outside so they don't get too cold. I've seen dogs with shoes on for walk-wear. And we are all aware of kids dressing up their cats with bows and ribbons.
In the fundamental state, all of those things are really fine... the point of no-return, however, is when those things soar above the needs of other human beings. Too often do we neglect to acknowledge our parents when we step through the door from school, while not forgetting to greet the house dog. Too often do we habitually take the dog out to pee and not hold the door open as a point of courtesy. And with today's legal system, it is becoming a lot easier to pay more of accidentally killing an animal than it is for killing another human. We all have duties and responsibilities, we all are charged with taking care of the Earth, but if our duty to our fellow man is compromised in the process, what kind of society will emerge? One of kindness, compassion, consideration, and love? Not towards humans.
But then again, with the assumption that evolution is correct, we are all just stupid animals. Survival of the fittest would explain a lack of consideration to your neighbor - but that does not explain increasing devotion towards animal-life. Interesting.
Thanks be to a God who would go through immense pain, pain that surpasses one had by the cat, in order to liberate me from my sin. Devotion towards a soul-less being and love for a hopeless sinner. Some things cannot be easily explained...
Labels: animal rights
10:34 AM
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