neophyte
Contributor
catherine96821:Yup, Almity, I feel in agreement. Now, I cannot argue it totally intellectually, but: :snip:
Christopher Reeves, very sad. Sad enough to slam thousands of chimpanzees into walls and make them suffer horrendously, personally I have doubts about that. Eating does not seem arrogant, but that seems arrogent, to me. That all the other beings are put here to put an end to human suffering is just a function of our own
delusional grandeur. Where do you draw the line? Logic does not solve this one, you have to feel your way through it and it will be different for everyone.
You posted this while I was in the middle of typing my reply above. I would not have ignored it.
I just deleted a fair bit of this post (and your statement that I'm quoting) because I feel that religion is a great topic not to discuss on Scubaboard. I'm not sure how to address the notion of instincts being spiritual without crossing that line and so I've chosen not to address it at all.
I care deeply for all life, and am terribly against needless suffering. While fishing I do my best to let those I don't intend to eat go without ever lifting them from the water. Those I'll be eating I kill as quickly as possible (a conk or two on the head) so that they don't slowly suffocate over ice (as I see so often).
I hit a deer with my car once. It was horrible. It was mating season in upstate New York and I simply couldn't come to a dead stop for every deer I saw, I was passing hundreds. One froze in my headlights, right at the edge of the road, and jumped in front of my car when I was a few feet away (once the light was out of its eyes I think). It was in shock, obviously dying, and terrified. Its eyes were wild and heart racing like crazy. I sat down and pulled that deer's head into my lap and comforted it; its heartbeat slowed and grew more erratic. I didn't leave until it was dead, and I'm convinced it had a much better death for what I did.
You show me a little kid who can't walk, for whatever reason, and I'll throw a hundred chimpanzees into walls my own self if that's what it'd take to get that little kid up and running around how she should be. That's just all there is to it.
Edited to clarify that the deer mentioned above died within five minutes and I didn't see any point in hastening its death through violence, although I was prepared to if it seemed to be in for a longer period of suffering.