Finally, we agree on something.
Don’t get me wrong, I think nature and animals are as spiffy as the next person. But would I want to be left at the mercy of animals or nature? I think not. A lion would not care if it was eating the last Fuzzy Crested Forest Marmot couple on the face of the earth. Alligators would have eaten Adam and Eve if they could, and mourned the demise of the human species with an unceremonious burp. I look at this debate thusly: It would have been swell if every living thing survived a nice long life purely from photosynthesis. But alas, I didn’t create the food chain. I only have to live within it. My precious Fluffy would eat me if I were smaller and she were bigger and I was the only protein around. And probably the reverse as well. Seems like all life functions from a prime directive, from the smallest to the biggest and the dumbest to the most intelligent: Survival. Should we wipe out a species to further humanity? Why not. It’s the way the world works. Other species would have no compunction about wiping US out. So sad, but so true…
A couple of questions for those who say that they would be just as broken up over the loss of a pet as they would a child.
Do you have children?
Have you ever lost a child?
I once had the gruesome task of scraping the bloody body of my beloved cat out of the road. We had always been very careful about letting him out but one day he somehow escaped and tried to make it to the pasture across the road. He didn’t make it. I cried for weeks and still miss the little shit. We have many photos of him and even though it has been a couple of years, I still remember what his fur felt like. He was part of the family and is sorely missed.
But NOTHING can ever fucking compare to the day my two little brothers were riding bikes together and my 10 year old (at the time) little brother watched in horror as my 7 year old little brother’s head was crushed by the front bumper of a car. It was a quiet residential neighborhood with very little traffic. Just across the street from home an 86 year old woman saw the boys, panicked, hit the gas instead of the brake, swerved and hit him. NOTHING can ever fucking compare to the experience of my dad and stepmother when they sat on the curb holding his bloodied, broken, DEAD body until the ambulance took him away.
NOTHING can ever fucking compare to how it feels each and every year on his birthday, Christmas, Halloween, the anniversary of his death. How it feels to look through old coloring books and find pictures he has colored (like I recently discovered). How it feels to explain to old acquaintances who haven’t heard when they ask about the family.
Nothing can ever fill the hole that was left by his death or compltely stop the nightmares of my now 18 year old little brother. It’s been 8 years and the pain hasn’t lessened.
I am not trying to invalidate the horrendous loss some of you may feel at the loss of a pet and I am sure you love them very much, but to compare it to a loss of a child is insulting to those who have experienced it.
This thread reminded me of Chief Seattle’s letter in response to the President announcing his intention to purchase Native American land.
Unfortunately there is some scholarly debate over whether these words are truly attributable to Chief Seattle. Nevertheless I find them singularly moving.
So what?
Maybe the person is all alone, no family, very few friends-and that cat is all he had. Some people don’t have anything other than a cat or a dog. SO FUCKING WHAT???
It was his life. If he wanted to risk it for his cat, what’s it to you?
Humans are better than other animals. Humans are worse than other animals. Humans are more creative, more dangerous, more indspiring, more demeaning, more thoughful, more thoughtless, more good, more evil, more ingenious, more ugly. No animal besidea humans has painted the Mona Lisa, discoverd the double-helix, composed Ode to Joy, created weapons of mass destruction, put their own on the moon, enslaved their own, written a sonnet, communicated over vast distances with electrical pulses, killed from faith, declared that “I have a dream”, crashed a plane into a building, or care, hope, sympathize and try to help those in need, whether we know them or not.
Other animals are fractional compared to the lives we lead. I have had cats and loved them dearly, but those cats lives were vacuous shells compared to the life of any human.
Then of course, there are those humans whose lives are worth less than the most lowly form of life.
Only if said species threatened our survival. The problem is none of these species we are ignorantly exterminating everyday are threatening us! We are unnecessarily killing them because those big corporations need to improve their bottom line, and other inane reasons. Oh but what about those killer lions and such? The only circumstances under which they would kill a human are…
- Its life is threatened.
- Its hungry.
I think the bigger issue here is that humans are becoming more selfish and jaded. Im far more concerned with the carelessly destructive attitude we as a species are beginning to develop. Perhaps if we treat the earth and all
its inhabitants with a bit more respect, we will be a better species because of it.
And before anyone points it out, I’m well aware of the irony of my username in regards to the op.
Well, I guess nothing. It’s his life. If he wants to throw it away…that’s his business. Unless some firefighters are trying to save him after he made his decision. Then he has put other’s lives in danger for a cat.
Still, it goes pretty high up on the All-Time list of bad decisions.
Diane, I think people who value their pets that highly probably don’t have children, or other close family members. Otherwise they would value their own lives, and the extra time they could spend with their children and family, more than the lives of their pets. Of course the loss isn’t comparable - no-one would feel as sorry for them as for someone who lost a child, and rightfully. What is comparable is just the fact that the pet is the most important thing in that person’s life, so I can understand why he or she would risk death to save it.
I’m really sorry to hear what happened to your brother. 
I have a little brother too and I fear for him constantly. I know nothing anyone feels for a cat could compare. But I guess some people aren’t lucky enough to know that kind of love.
Per Chas E-
“One life is worth more than all the treasures in the world.”
This is a nice, fuzzy quote, but is nothing more. If any person actually believed this, they’d have no more possessions than necessary to sustain their existence, and commit the rest of their accumulated wealth toward saving human and non-human life. Currently, we gladly let children starve to death, euthanize dogs and cats at the pound, and watch disease-striken people die without treatment because the resources are not there to help them. We have the ability to help, but lack the initiative. It is the way of humans. I am no different. Only a small fraction of humans’ benevolent intentions actually translate to action.