We All Do Better When All Creatures Do Better
FYI: This post is not about yuletide carols and holiday cheer. While you may not want to read any further, I invite you to keep reading. There is important information below. Your comments, thoughts and ideas are very much welcomed.
Actually, I’ve been debating for awhile about writing this post. I kept thinking ‘When is a good time to write about animals and their right to life?’. I didn’t want to depress anyone around the holidays. Finally, I decided there is no time like the present to broach this topic.
It seems lately a lot of heartbreaking and depressing stories about human treatment of animals have found their way to me. The local MN TV stations have been covering a story about a young golden retriever who was shot twice and left for dead at the side of the road in this frigid weather. Thousands and thousands of horses are dying. From two colleagues I have heard about animals being skinned alive for their fur. The fur is fresher that way. The soon-to-be carcasses are thrown into a pile and can still be alive for another ten minutes.
I don’t know what to say, where to begin. I get lost in the murky areas of torture, abuse, neglect. I get further disorientated regarding how lack of economics and education play a part in this, as well as power, might and violence. I can’t imagine, I simply cannot imagine, what pain a person must be in themselves to inflict this on another living, sentient creature.
This morning I was listening to NPR’s This I Believe. Dr. Paul Farmer wrote this morning’s essay. The honesty and frankness of his words both touched me and left me heavy hearted. While Dr. Farmer is addressing the health needs of humans, I see it as appropriate for animals also. Below is a portion of what he said. To see the entire essay, click here. The words in parenthesis are mine.
As heard on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, December 21, 2008.
I know it’s not enough to attend only to the immediate needs of the patient (animal) in front of me. We must also call attention to the failures and inadequacy of our own best efforts. The goal of preventing human (animal) suffering must be linked to the task of bringing others, many others, into a movement for basic rights.
I move uneasily between the obligation to intervene and the troubling knowledge that much of the work we do, praised as “humanitarian” or “charitable,” does not always lead us closer to our goal. That goal is nothing less than the refashioning of our world into one in which no one (creature) starves, drinks impure water, lives in fear of the powerful and violent, or dies ill and unattended.
To put in my own words, We All Do Better When All Creatures Do Better.
In the book Altruistic Armadillos, Zenlike Zebras, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson comments about beetles that ‘they are living beings who have as much right to their existence as we have to ours’. (p. 23)
I would like to take Masson’s comment a step further and apply that to all animals, insects, any sentient being. I’m also going to add to that comment: ‘they are living beings who have only as much right to their existence as we have to ours’.
Perspectives will begin to change when it is realized that animals have as much a prerogative and birthright to their lives as you and I do. This I Believe.
Harmony,
Janet Roper
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Ever since I can remember I have loved animals; wild and companion.
On a recent photo safari to Africa I had the honor to truly experience what it means to be in presence in of a wild animal. I have never been so close to Elephants, Lions, Leopards, and Meercats. We slept in tents in the bush and our camps were frequently visited by Elephants who went about their daily business of grazing and browsing. They pulled on our tent ropes and moved on. It was amazing to be so close to something so enormous – a true experience of respect.
I am saddened to hear of recent events of “Annie”, the Golden Retriever, shot and left for dead, but am so pleased to hear of how many people have responded with open hearts to help this poor dog. Companion animals bring us so much joy, it is difficult to fathom that anyone could be so heartless. I am hopeful that she will pull through and find a wonderful loving home and that her spirit will be nourished in every way she deserves.
I encourage everyone to honor the spirit of all animals and respect the gifts their lives bring to us all.
Janet, I have never quite understood how I have been able to work with abused children but the abuse of animals has the power to completely break me down. While I can rise to the occasion in the moment of need for animals, I can’t imagine working as an animal control officer. I can’t imagine being able to keep myself in control when dealing with the humans involved.
It’s an upsetting issue, but important, and I think it’s appropriate to raise it ANYtime. Sending out white light and hoping our awareness as humans increases to the point where animals have rights and abuse is simply not tolerated.
Hi billie,
Ditto to everything you said. Rescue people & animal control officers are special people.
Thank you for your work you do with kids.
Harmony,
Janet
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment. I echo your sentiment: I encourage everyone to honor the spirit of all animals and respect the gifts their lives bring to us all.
Harmony,
Janet
Hi Janet
This topic is being brought into my reality quite a bit lately and I wanted to add my total respect for the animal kingdom and the work that all the creatures do. When they incarnate to the earth plane as a 3rd dimensional beings they each agree to this and I have found with my communication work that they will all have a job to do whatever it may be.
It sounds as though, how awful it may be that the retriever has done her job so well by bringing into our awareness the cruelty that is still remaining, and the way people have come together it is showing how this behaviour is now not acceptable by so many.
Annie has been so brave and so amazing by showing us this has to stop, I take my hat off to her and send my love. We are learning so much from our amazing creatures that teach us so much about ourselves.
Love to all
Michelle
Hi Michelle,
Yes, Annie has done an incredible job raising this topic in the minds and hearts of thousands of people. She is a brave and courageous soul. As the topics of animal cruelty and animal right to life are brought up more and more in conversations, more light is shed on this topic, more awareness is brought forth, more people are educated about it and less cruelty will take place.
Thank you for your insightful and thoughtful comment.
Harmony,
Janet
Hi Janet,
Thanks for your courage in blogging about this topic! I agree whole heartedly with everything you’ve said, as well as the comments posted by the thoughtful people who have left them. I too had an amazing experience on a photo safari in Africa, where in one span of two weeks I was able to witness the entire circle of life, in absence of human cruelty to animals. It forever changed my life.
Something you said particularly resonated with me: “I can’t imagine, I simply cannot imagine, what pain a person must be in themselves to inflict this on another living, sentient creature.” I think that sums up my thoughts so well, I’m not sure how I could put it any better.
Thanks for your wonderful blog, and your willingness to tackle the “tough” issues!
Caroline
Hi Caroline,
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. People have left wonderfully insightful comments, haven’t they? Glad you had your life-changing African experience. Feel free to share more with us any time!
Harmony,
Janet
Hi Janet,
My animal loving husband and partner found this wonderful blog and invited me to read it this morning because I am an Australian animal communicator, shaman, writer and film maker, and mostly an animal advocate. Getting a better deal for animals informs all my work.
I believe the problem lies at the top of the food chain, and current education doesn’t even begin to address this. If we stopped killing animals as if they were worthless, if we stopped having euthanasia in pounds, if it were illegal to take a beloved horse to end his days as dog food, then we would see it filtering down to the rest of society. Everyone would KNOW that an animal’s life meant something. And we would see it making a difference.
I have started a campaign to end euthanasia of HEALTHY animals, and it is bigger than this. In Germany no homeless animal is allowed to be killed. If they can do this, so can the rest of the world. I’ve worked in rescue for over 20 years. What I’ve seen has left me with a dim view of humanity. But I am now encouraging people to only focus on the good of people and to visualise or dream in a world where animals and people can live in sacred harmony. Focus on what we want, so we create this into being, according to spiritual laws that make up our universe.
Our group started just before Christmas. It is open to anyone who wants to make a difference to the world of animals. I live with about 60, now, of society’s rejects who I have given a forever home to. And if I’ve learned anything, it is that rescue isn’t the answer. Nothing has changed in 20 years. Rescue is a bottomless pit. And those rejects are souls who are dependent on humanity’s compassion and kindness. We give our murderers a better deal than we give animals who are simply homeless or who have been abused. People abuse them again and again because they don’t see them with respect and reverence.
We need to get rid of the concept of kill shelters and give animals a shelter FOR LIFE if they need it. We need people to understand that animals are really teachers and healers. And that their silent language can be heard if only people learn to listen.
http://www.alllifeisprecious.ning.com is our new community for change for animals through practical work as well as meditation and shamanic dreaming. http://www.billiedean.com is my website. I’ve made two films Finding Joy and Seven Days with Seven Dogs (available from my website) which in a fun way try to encourage people to see animals differently. Now I have written books soon to be published. It’s time to change things for animals and I welcome every bit of like-minded community to make the change happen on every level. We need to make an international net.
As a psychic communicator I have been told by the animals they are finished suffering for humanity. It’s time WE changed as a species, and it’s time we understood how connected we all are.
Thank you for your blog. And thank you from my heart for allowing me the space to put my views here. From a shamanic perspective, the world isn’t going to heal until we start understanding our true connection to nature and animals. The pain in people is the pain of animals and nature and the pain of our disconnection from them. There is a path forward and I talk about it in my books and in my new film This Sacred Earth. All these are currently self funded — this is the depth of our commitment.
Thank you for caring!
Billie Dean
Hi Billie Dean,
WOW! Thank you for your insightful and thought provoking comment. I’m very glad to hear the perspective from a shaman. You have said a lot and said it well. What a friend the animals have in you!
Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving your comment.
Harmony,
Janet