Hick said:
well he ain't no Jerry Clower...
I found lass's response confused/confusing, also. Interesting that it's "ok" for the coons to assert
their place in the 'food chain, but not so for effen to assert 'his' dominant position over them in the same natural chain... :confused2:
No offense intended Lass, but I find responses like that are most often "emotionally" based,(
poor li'l racoons) and really do not reflect reality or 'good common sense'. The fact is, the coons are an imminent threat to not only his family and pets, but to the entire neighborhoods families, pets, gardens, ect.
I don't understand how protecting them is any less a natural avenue of pursuit, than the coons natural instinct to be a sneak thief. If say, a pack rat came into the coons lair to steal the coy that she had brought home to her brood, would the coon be wrong in eliminating it? (poor lil packrat)
Or would it be different, if effen were removing them because they were eating say his sweet corn?
I don't want this to degrade into an argument over "animals rights", but I would like to gain a better understanding of your views.
This is an excellent queston, Hick.
I have four dogs and a couple of cats at this time, have had as many as a dozen dogs at a time, LOL. I moved from Atlanta to the mountanis of western NC seven years ago and almost immediately began taking in homeless dogs. It took a while to learn that the mountain folks still do things the way their fathers did---and spaying or neutering animals is not common. So, literally dozens (well, hundreds) of homeless dogs and cats too---wander the roads, searching for food.
But I digress. Anyway, I noticed that my (many!) dogs seem to have a certain...well, what I call, "Doggy Politics"! Say one has a chew toy. The others do NOT attempt to take it, BUT they WILL sit and watch....waiting for the moment the dog-with-the-toy momentarily forgets, is distracted...and walks away. THEN, some other dog can take the toy.
Now...the first dog, the one who did have the toy....seems to understand he has losat the right to it. He wont rtry to re-take it...he will join the watchers, waiting pariently for the new toy owner to momentarily lose his focus and walk away.
or even just LOOK away!
But...the thing is...arent we, as humans...supposed to be a "higher" life form?
I knew this woman when I was 14 who worked in a lab. I was very impressed because she wore a white lab coat, was a "grown up" and drove a car. She worked at Emory University in one of the drug labs. She said to me that sometimes she held a lab rat in her hands and felt a rush knowing she held the power of life and death over the mouse/rat. She could "test" that rat with a new drug OR give it the placebo, at her whim. She said, "
Sometimes, I just hold a white mouse and think, I could just squeeze it til it dies if I want to."
Then she said, "But you know what? I also realize I can also choose NOT to...and let it live...and that's power, too."
For reasons I can only guess at, we humans do hold that power over every living creature. Yes, we CAN kill them ...if they eat our Koi, if they steal a sheep, if they bite our kid, if they...are just there and we dont want them to be. We have that power.
But we CAN choose NOT to kill them.
They say there are "no atheists in a foxhole". LOL, well, prolly not.
There are also no atheists when he has cancer, or his kid has been diagnosed with leuikemia. Trust, me, anybody will quickly become religious when their kid is diagnosed with a fatal illmess. You will pray, find a Voodoo woman..., go to Lourdes..whatever.
So...we humans, we powerful humans...will pray to a god we didnt even believe in yesterday...to please save the life of our kid, our spouse, ourselves. We beg for mercy, for compassion, for healing to this Being that may or may NOT be there.
Now...I dont expect a raccoon prays much. or a lab rat. Or even my beloved dogs. But I do know this: every living being, even a paramecium, may opnly have one "thought", but that "thought" is, "I want to live." We all want, 100%, whether we're a rat or a human...to live. Is my 100% bigger than a coons 100%?
To a coon, dog, cat, frog, fish...we ARE god. If they could pray...we would be the God they address, "Please, let me live."
Maybe there is a God who hears our little human prayers. Maybe not. I dont know. But I know I HOPE there is. And I hope He/She/It will hear me and let me live.
Just...live.
So...how different am I from a coon, coyote, lab rat? Am I really more special, more beloved by God? Frankly, If I were God...I wouldnt be putting the humans in First Place.
We all want to live, feed our young and just....live.
Can we pray to that God that may be there to save out kid from cancer while at the same time, managing to not notice the coon that offers the same prayer for survival to US, the "gods" of his universe? Can we hope for compassion when we dont also give it? IF God is dissapointed by ANY of His/Her/It's Creations...which species do you suppose it is?
As if...we humans really are special,. somehow? Yes, we have bigger brains...and free will. And just LOOK what we've done with those Gifts!
Karma is karma. We all kind of get it. If you extend compassion, you have a better chance of receiving compassion.
You CAN shoot the coon, stab the bear with a spear, squeeze the lab mouse. You bet. You have that power.
But you also have the power to choose NOT to. Out of simple empathy for a Being over whom you have the power of Life and Death, just as God holds that same Power over you and me.
Which decision puts you in a position to ask for mercy/compassion/healing from the God of Man?
This is just me talking now and I dont know crap. But I do have a .45 in a towel up in the closet and I COULD kill me a possum coon, stray dog, coyote, hell I could shoot a bluejay. Woowoo. I choose NOT to.
Why do I own a gun? LOL...because somebody gave it to me, actually, saying he was worried about me, an "old blind broad living alone". And really, I DO feel better, just knowing it's there. I do. For one thing, IF one of my dogs got hit by a car, mauled by a bear or wild hog and was seriously hurt, Im glad I have a method to stop his suffering instantly.
Where I live, I havent even locked my door, go to town and leave the front door standing wide open. I LOVE this place! In Atlanta, I uused to have to nudge the occassional wino awake in my yard, saying, "listen man...you gotta GO." Hookers were blowing guys in my driveway! LOL! I didnt even own the damn gun then...but now, well, Im a gun owner and glad of it. I prob oughta take it out of the guestroom closet and take it down to my room....in case some Ice junky breaks in, and doesnt get eaten by the dogs...would I shoot an intruder?
BET YER ***!
Why?
Because a HUMAN who chooses to break in to MY house oughta KNOW BETTER. This makes him unlike a coon, a possum or a rattlesnake. If I found a rattler in my bed, Id get him out of my house, you bet...but without klilling him. A human crack addict choosing to hit the old blind lady's house...has made a serious error in judgement.
Okay. Ive had my macha moment. In truth, yeah, Id shoot...but Id prolly aim at his knee and give him a serious lecture while waiting for the damn ambulance.
Lassie