We are Animals, too

Photo Andre Mouton, Pexels

When did we go from a mutual relationship of helping and being helped by non-human animals to one of using them exclusively for our own gain whether they receive any benefit from the relationship, and often not? I believe the change happened when we started to grow and store our own food and to raise animals from birth until death as a food source. We also used their labor to help clear land and to help build larger and larger structures.

We humans seek safety, ease, efficiency, and a reduction in suffering. To this end, we have at times enslaved other non-human species for our own use and abuse. To do this we must have perceived non-human species as not as important and valuable as ourselves. Their lives were expendable, as long as, they were of some use to make our lives more secure, easier, and less painful.

Lions eat zebras; spiders eat flies – all living things on this planet are food for another life form. We, too, are food. We just rarely see ourselves this way. It is when we see ourselves as separate and non-food, or seek to protect ourselves over and above from being a part of this organic cycle that we are able to use, torture, and kill other species without any concern, thought, consciousness, or empathy.

We eat animals. We wear animals. We keep animals with us in our homes. Animals provide entertainment for us. Animals are used in scientific experiments. We feel right in capturing wild animals and keeping them in enclosed areas, because humans have taken over the earth and it is not safe to be a non-human in many environments around the world. The destruction we have caused is responsible for the extinction of millions of species. If we don’t change, we will be counted as one of the next to go, and then earth will heave a big sigh and begin its healing.

We must change how we view all life and begin to respect non-human existence. We need to change for them and for us. It is not about right and wrong, but about existence and non-existence. Life will go on … without us. Awareness of one’s individual choices and actions is a first step.

It is difficult when so many deny that our lifestyle is destructive to non-humans, as well as, to the earth in its entirety. It is not healthy for us either, but that is another story. If we can just open our eyes and see the suffering of the other and do our part not to participate in it. People are afraid of change and even more of another making them change when they don’t want to. It would be great if this fear evaporated, while eyes and hearts opened to the plight of the non-human creatures. If you cannot be a part of the solution, please, no longer be a part of the problem. Peace for all our relations.