If You’re Good To Animals, You’re A Genuinely Good Person

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I am popularly not nice, and I am completely very okay with that. This might even come off as a self-righteous article to some, since I am discreetly declaring myself as “nice.” However, I can’t help but be appalled by people who don’t treat animals with respect. I mean, are they even humans? Maybe. But they must have some genetic defect, because they don’t seem to carry the, erm, “humane” gene.

While my stand is that humans are the greatest (and the most evil) species on earth, we do not have the right to subject any other living creature on our selfish whims. I do believe that by being the most advanced creature, albeit the most destructive of nature, we are given the task to take care of everything that’s of a lower form. With great power comes great responsibility, but I’m afraid this too has been misused.

To me, there is an underlying reason why some people maltreat or disrespect animals. When there is power or control over one so defenseless to fight back or get even, the true self is revealed through how such power or control is yielded in such an aggrandizing situation. Would you easily hit a puppy if it becomes an angry tiger when provoked? Not really. In my opinion, those who maltreat animals are silent oppressors and enslavers.

When one crushes an animal in a video, one would have to question how on earth would some freak waste life over some serious fetish. Of course, nobody would dare crush an adult lion or even a snake by foot, because only the Virgin Mary does that. But psychos crush puppies, the babies, the fawns, the hatchlings – because they are powerless and their situation enables their oppressors or killers to maltreat them or disregard their lives. How evil of us to malign helpless animals, knowing that we have the upper hand! If maltreating animals is not slavery for you, then I don’t know what is.

I’ve heard a lot of unnecessary or unethical killings of animals. I won’t enumerate them because that is too much pain for any humane human to do. There is just too many in ways unimaginable, and one can only fathom so much. It is heartbreaking how power and control can be used to disregard life. The feeling of yielding power and control over the defenseless, that must truly be some faulty gene mutation. It is simply not human.

However, my wrath is not only upon the murderers but also upon the casual “harm-inflicters,” and the “by-default-pet-deserters.” The everyday oppression that are commonly overlooked as acceptable such as perpetual chaining of dogs or caging them, beating of pets when they make a mess, and leaving them uncared for or in some busy train station like what had been done to Kai the dog, should have jolted all of us. It is a shame that “humans”are capable of such atrocities!

I would like to think that if all animals were fierce like lions, sharks, crocodiles, black widow spiders, and cobras, I wouldn’t be this furious. After all, nobody really maltreats these animals on a normal basis, but it’s still alarming to know that even the top predators fall prey to humanity. It’s as if being the brightest creature means also being the most evil (cue in story of Lucifer, the fallen angel, here). Humans, for all that we are capable of, choose to destroy and deform for a false sense of superiority.

If only all creatures were made fierce like the top-of-the-chain predators of the wild, then people would be more respectful, I guess. But perhaps, these cute and furry animals are here for us to take care of and be friends with. The world is so much brighter with Boo the Pomeranian and Maru the cat. Life can’t always be about predator-prey stories. It’s also about community. Isn’t it a sunnier day with animals around as pets? Isn’t life deeper with tales of Hachiko the Akita and Marley the dog?

Two different types of people roam the globe every day. The first ones are like me. The second ones are those who I am very angry with. Oh well, nobody really judges a person by how he/she treats animals. So I am not a nice person according to society, and I couldn’t care less as long as my dogs and all other animals that have crossed my path think I am an angel. On the other hand, my neighbor, known as Ms. Congeniality, locks her dog in a cage every day. This girl from school, who has the most friends, hates the cat freely roaming around the campus.

As far as I am concerned, I am genuinely nice.