The killing of a creature for the notion that killing the creature is fun/sport with no other reasoning is so wrong... how do people smile after shooting wolves or elephants... for no other reason then for shooting them i have to think their brain is damaged, they must be currently blocked off from a vital form of understanding, they must be in a deep ignorance of the totality of what they did, for if they saw threw what i understand they would puke and cry and grieve deeply and work to right and make peace with that wrong to remember it forever and use it for good... like i do... i killed a squirrel when i was young i didn't do it by myself but i participated i followed threw with it 1/2 into it i came to full realization of how wrong this was, and by then it was to late it was in much suffering and had to finish it, end it(it would only suffer longer not recover) boy did i cry and hate myself and get the others to see as well... i can never undo that death but i can give it meaning i have to and to this day it is my reminder to always fight senseless deaths for every act of kindness and healing i give another creature he/she(the squirrel) was my teacher, taught me threw pain suffering and death that i am not meant to be a monster, it died and gave me understanding... please forgive me my friend, i love you and i'm so sorry, i will never forget
(for perspective) it was very likely my stray cat would of killed that squirrel and by no means do i think my cat wrong, it had reasons, it would eat its catch, to provide sustenance for itself and young "and my cat never toyed with its prey a brief chase and a quick death" not that its not brutal (in a way) but its not pointless... there can be a beauty to the predator their is zero beauty in senseless killing. It does not lesson what i did or give reprimand, i did it in ignorance that was forever illuminated...
i can not change what happened only make a choice, i choose to use my mistakes/errors to create greater understanding and compassion in myself for all, i choose to learn from them, not to hide from them or wallow in them that would be a disservice i feel... "a mistake only continues being a mistake if you don't learn, once you learn the mistake becomes a lesson and a teacher, a better role, the power of transformation is a strong one"
It's hard to relate to people who think so differently than oneself. I've long since felt that a large number of people lack what I call the "empathy gene." These folks are largely uncompassionate and incapable of putting themselves in another living being's shoes (be it a person or an animal).
Even my vegetarian friend recently surprised me after I commented that the bees were facing extinction and her reply was, We can pollinate our crops with horse hair brushes."
It seems that few people care if the house burns to the ground, just as long as their own ass isn't on fire.
When I was maybe 12, I shot a muskrat with a pellet gun a friend had to see what it was like. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like it but I wanted to know 'what is hunting' and I felt a little peer pressure from the other boys. I felt very sorry when I heard the animal cry out in pain as it dove under water to escape. I will never forgot that terrible regret. I don't even know if I killed it-only that I made it suffer. I know something about how you feel Unite. I watched some YouTube videos of a young woman hunting various animals and she has the same inexplicable satisfaction (of power and of meeting a challenge??) as men do-which is sort of sad. The suspension of compassion involved is interesting. I guess it's part of the picture for us humans that we are able to shift our awareness and values. I read somewhere recently " There is no such thing as human nature, only human behaviour." I wonder about the gene thing Noa. There might be something to that too.
I just realized the photo next to my name might be an example of suspending compassion for an animal. Hmmm. On the other hand, I have little compassion for misquitoes-another animal that wants to consume me.. I gladly kill them without much regret.
yes i swat at mosquitoes because they wish to suck my blood, that's not a senseless killing, there is purpose to protect the body, yet i'm learning (thou it can be hard to not be pissed and angry at the mosquitoes) to not hate the mosquitoes its just living its life, there is no malice intent, just survival and propagation of its species, they are important for so many life forms depend on them for food and some grasses and plants for pollination, it is actually a beautiful creature just one that has the disposition to a parasitic nature when we look at it in terms of it biting us, yet it feeds fish and bats and we eat fish hence it is symbiotic as well...
TCM-->traditional Chinese medicine has an interesting take on disease, that disease is actually the symptom of miss balance, lack of strength/vitality in the body not the creature itself, when the body itself is not strong is when the creatures get out of hand, for a strong body can keep them in check in balance "which is why people can have the organism responsible for debilitating diseases and live there life in vibrant health, and others get ill from it(usually the healthy ones eat diverse nutritious foods and other healthy practices)... i feel the same for the environment,(one example mosquitoes) when it is healthy and vibrant the mosquitoes maybe around yet held in check a bite or less maybe a night, when in imbalance is when infestation happens 10 bites in 10 minutes sometimes less... it is actually an indicator that something is not in its vibrant expression, lack of stability of balance, like a mosquito problem is actually a fish, frogs, dragonfly's, bats... deficiency in the environment, and possibly an excess of things that weaken fish, frogs, dragonfly's, bats... habitat, like pollution and destruction of there ecological niches things mosquitoes are not effected by much.
perhaps when we become aware of a mosquito unbalance we can work to a solution to correct balance rather then focusing on just killing them, what are its top predators what is their ecological niche and reintroduce it, strengthen it, bring the environment up in its vitality
i'm rambling lol :)
on the subject of genes and behavior, nature vs nurture... i choose nature and nurture, i feel people draw a division, of it is all this way or all that way... rather then see a dance a collaboration between the too which is how i look at it, i resonantly bumped into "morphogenetic field" if the topic of genes or development or collective consciences interests you may find it interesting http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_morphic01.htm
much love :)
The term, "empathy gene" is just something I came up with to help describe the lack of it within certain individuals. I have no idea if the capacity to empathize is actually carried in the genes.