Our Relationship with Animals Could Save the Planet
There are moments in every life which have the power to open our hearts and minds to the truth. Mine was with a dolphin who looked me right in the eyes and gave me the first real sense of another species as a kindred soul. It was a moment so vivid in memory, as if I had put on my first pair of glasses and seen leaves on a tree for the first time. For me that moment was a message of hope for our planet that a relationship with another species could allow mankind to recognize that for better or worse that we are in this world together.
What if a bond with animals gave humans the wisdom to reinvent ourselves as protectors of the planet rather than its users? What if that relationship could awaken the power to recognize our own species as the weak link in the planet’s welfare? And, what if a friendship with only one animal could change the way we see and care for the world?
It can. It’s our reward for our compassion, the ability to think outside ourselves, our family, our country, our religion and yes, our species. The bond with an animal is the most powerful way we humans have to understand our individual effect on each other and all beings of the earth. That awareness will give humans the ability to rethink what is healthy for our planet rather than what is profitable.
It’s not the kind of growth we are use to, that of excess building and expansion at the expense of other living beings and the planet’s resources. It is rather the growth of ethics, kindness and sharing. It will take an evolution in thinking and yet it’s not a new thought.
In 1952, after two world wars, it was compassion that Albert Schweitzer spoke of as the “humanitarian ideal,” as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Geneva, Switzerland. Schweitzer lived with an empathy that knew no bounds, giving to the people of equatorial Africa a hospital and himself as their physician. But rather than speak of his own work which was considerable, Schweitzer’s speech was about human kindness that was broader than country and family. He envisioned a compassion that would end war and world destruction. His words were about ending the cycle of bigger and better world-annihilating weapons, of overcoming nationalism and the war for the earth’s resources at the expense of other peoples, nations and animals. For this German-born theologian, organist, philosopher, physician and medical missionary, compassion meant rethinking every human act for its effect and kindness to the entire planet.
It was a tall order but Schweitzer believed that humans learned “the root of their ethics” by being with animals, caring for them and bonding with them. Being humane was the trait he considered the most important part of being human. Compassion, Schweitzer said, “can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind.”
That we are able to have a connection with animals is nature’s way of awakening our compassion to help our planet stay alive for all beings who come after us. We humans are the most important allies of our planet’s preservation because we are the only beings who have the means to destroy it. If we become indifferent to others who share our planet, our indifference to saving our planet will grow.
Fortunately, the ability to connect with other species is in every human being. We are born with it but it has to be nurtured. A red retriever we adopted and named Barney help me understand my part in the fate of our planet. Humans who give an animal time, love and care will identify with the ability to think outside our species. It still seems a miracle that a dog who didn’t respond to commands on a consistent basis could help me understand my part in the fate of our planet. My conscience had been clear because I was so clearly oblivious to the painful reality of the lives of so many animals.
We have been conditioned not to think. The industry of using, abusing and killing animals for humans is hidden purposely so that we don’t know the terror and pain. A bond with an animal gives humans the wisdom and courage to face the fact that we have considered ourselves more important than the murder of animals. With compassion we open our eyes to the truth of what we do in the name of progress, a progress that may be efficient for feeding the masses but has cost us our connection to the earth, to nature, to animals and our planet. A real bond with only one animal can give us the insight that what we do matters to the health of our planet.
The truth will be haunt us but it’s the only way to undo the damage we have done. In our attempt to improve human life we have been blind to the health of the planet. We have destroyed the earth’s vital ecological balance and one day our own ability to survive. The industry of killing animals for food is torture on a corporate scale, unhealthy for humans, toxic for our air and water but convenient for profit. We humans ignore the truth because the horror for animals is ugly and ignorance means we can continue living the way we do.
Our indifference to animals has made us oblivious to their pain. We don’t see or think about the pain we cause other beings. The ugliest truth is that we don’t want to see. We are content being unaware of this cruelty inflicted on animals for humans. My love for a dog gave me the awareness and conscience to change
Our conscience will not let us be oblivious. We can’t absolve our responsibility by believing someone else or some other generation can undo the abuse of the planet. We must face that our way of living impacts the entire world when we make changes to help ourselves.
Humans take more and more land from animals and then consider it theirs without a thought that they are the invaders. We are wiping out entire species without giving a thought to the damage we’ve caused in the name of progress. We civilized and enlightened humans bulldoze nature, take animal habitat and close our eyes and minds to the horrors of the factory farming and animal experimentation.
Bonding with a animal might sound like a really simple a fix for a complex problem like climate change but the first step is our awareness of our connection to all other beings on this earth and then acceptance that we alone are responsible for fixing it. Awareness becomes the catalyst to change our relationship with nature and our environment. Bonding with animals gives us the compassion and ethics to face reality, the reason to change and the power to live a more responsible life.
With compassion for other species we can find the way to a more humane world. That world will be a safer and more stable place for all species. Then, and only then, will our planet’s resources have a chance to endure for all beings, not just privileged nations. Compassion gives us that power.
It’s that simple. If we disconnect from animals, from nature, we will not see how we influence the earth dying. We will ignore the damage we do to earth and we will let the earth die without ever recognizing our part in saving it. There is still hope. When we care for animals we experience nature and we recognize that we are not the only creatures who feel pain and fear and joy. We can find our own joy in nature as it is and not the one created by corporations for us to experience on some artificial but grand scale. We will have the strength to stand up and speak out to more development, more malls, highways and the urban sprawl that steals from nature. That progress of living humanely, our ability to respect nature and protect it, can give our lives deeper meaning.
This generation is where we have to begin. Demonstrating compassion for animals teaches our children to not think of animals as playthings to own but as their responsibility to respect and protect. What children learn from animals about loyalty and devotion in response to compassion is magical, a message of trust that teaches us to be compassionate guardians.
Our conscience is vital if we are to give animals the lives we promised when we made them part of our family. Are they isolated from the family that wanted them? Confined, crated, chained, forgotten, abandoned? In the United States alone, eight million unwanted pets are destroyed in shelters every year. That’s a lot of families who haven’t learned or demonstrated compassion.
Humans don’t learn compassion from criticism, laws or incarceration. Humans learn from their parents, friends or teachers who demonstrate what compassion and real care for an animal looks like.
We can’t bond with an animal we ignore. If we teach our children it’s ok to forget their responsibilities for their pet or that an animal’s pain, fear, suffering and loneliness is not important because “it’s only an animal,” our children won’t learn compassion. If a child’s pet is condemned to a life alone, apart from his animal family and the family who decided it was their right to own him, the power of bonding and connecting with that animal is lost. Humans wont see what is obvious, that the fence, cage, chain is your personal escape from caring.
What if we taught our children that when we care for animals with the respect they deserve we grow as humans. What if our kids learned at a very early age that caring for animals, recognizing their needs and returning their devotion made us not only more ethical and humane but smarter and more aware as human beings about the needs of our planet.
By bonding with animals we can teach the next generation that putting profits or growth before people, animals or the planet is not only wrong ethically but will destroy our planet. Instead of recognizing wealth as greatness of a nation what if we set an example for the world as a humane nation of humane humans.
What if we raised a generation of compassionate youngsters who knew that what they do matters not just for themselves individually but for every being that their lives touch. What if we raised a generation to understand the connections between their choices and the fate of other peoples, other species and the earth.
The knowledge that comes with caring for animals can give the next generation an enlightened view that is humbling and healthy. When humans have the ability to see beyond their feeling of supremacy they have achieved one of life’s greatest secrets. The ability to see the light of understanding in an animal’s eyes gives humans the ability to recognize their light within. It’s the light of awareness, mankind’s chance to see his connection to the world.
As a youngster, Schweitzer knew that his existence should never be in conflict with any animal. “As long as I can remember, I have suffered because of the great misery I saw in the world,” Schweitzer said. “An old, limping horse being dragged along by one man while another man struck him with a stick as he was being driven to the slaughterhouse haunted me for weeks.” Schweitzer’s evening prayers always included all living creatures and it was incomprehensible that prayers were only for human beings. He was certain that the basic tenet of an ethical philosophy, one he named “reverence for life,” included all beings and was steadily gaining recognition. That hope gave Schweitzer the strength to not give up on man. He would be heart broken at modern humans. The truth is we humans who live in the most privileged country on earth have evolved to care about ourselves at the expense of the world and the rest of creation. It’s not too late. The power of compassion, uplifting and yet sobering, is the key. Connecting with animals, allowing other species to have a place in this world, would it cost us so much? Living within our means to support all beings is not that great a sacrifice. But when it comes to saving the earth it is, in fact, a very good start.
Sandy Wilson
772.340.4941
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