‘Happy Feet’ the emperor penguin found on a beach north of Wellington full of sand, is being taken south to colder waters to be set free today. One of the colleagues at work mentioned that today, and the woman next to her said snidely “Yeah, how much did that care cost?”. Colleague said he was cute. Another piped up “So what?”. Yet another said “There’s a lot to be said for letting nature take its course”. What let the penguin die a slow death just because it costs money to help it? What sort of attitude is that? Why are humans more important than animals? (We ARE animals.) Where is the compassion for another living being? Their attitude seems to be – let the bastards die. If you can’t eat them, what’s the use of them? Callous!
To the person who said “let nature take its course”, how about sticking to that viewpoint when it comes to humans? Why waste money on taking care of anyone, especially if they’re past their use-by date or are criminals. Let them all rot and perish because it costs too much. “I’m alright, Jack, nothing to do with me” is their selfish attitude. Need I say that one of the above was a devout Christian? It’s a Christian doctrine that believes that animals (and nature) only exist to be of use to humans and it’s the cause of today’s devastation of the natural world. There’s no compassion. Give me Buddhists any day that hold all life sacred. Why shouldn’t an animal of any kind have the same right to life that humans do?
The above Christian went on to say that trying to save beached whales was a waste of time and asked colleague if she’d spend hours in freezing water trying to save one. “Yes” she said. Up to now, I’d been quietly fuming, but I piped up and said I would too. Then they equated it with a cow floating down the river in a flood and would we swim out to save it. These people have no ****ing idea.
Reflections 