I have noticed something
that is repeated over and over again in our society. That something
is, people get more upset and more outraged over harm done to an
animal, than they do over harm done to another human being.
Let there be a news item
in your local newspaper, a shared news story on Facebook or twitter
about an animal...particularly dogs or cats...being injured or killed
through abuse, wanton neglect, or callous indifference, and there
will be tons of letters to the editor...hundreds of
comments on Facebook ...hundreds of re-tweets on twitter...all
expressing outrage over the harm done to an animal, and all
accompanied by demands that the full extent of the law be applied in
dealing with the perpetrators of these acts.
For example, a post on
Facebook linked to a story about a Newark, New Jersey woman who is
charged with second degree burglary and third degree animal cruelty
for killing a small dog by throwing it into oncoming traffic. Out of
the more than 70 comments condemning this woman, only one
said that they get upset over someone hurting children or animals.
Only one...not
two, three or more....just one! Sadly, that seems to be
the mindset of people in today’s society. They either consider an
animals life as equal to, or superior to
the life of a human being.
A few years ago, there
was a young lady... just weeks away from her high school
graduation...who was killed in a car accident by being thrown from
the car she was riding in when it struck a tree. She and her
boyfriend who was driving, had been leaving a party where alcohol had
been served to them by an off duty law enforcement officer, even
though both were under the legal age to consume
alcohol.
At the request of the
young lady's family, no charges were brought against the off duty
officer, or the young driver of the car.
There was not one single
letter to the editor in protest of this decision. Yet just a few
weeks later, there appeared a story about a dog (that somehow
survived) being doused with a flammable liquid and then set on fire.
The letters of protest and outrage over this act appeared on the
letters to the editor page for almost 3 weeks.
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| Chief |
Let me make it perfectly
clear that I love all of God's creatures. We had both
dogs and cats growing up, and I have owned dogs in my adult life as
well. My last dog was a German Shepherd Dog named “Chief” and he
was the best dog I ever owned. So I am against animal abuse. Period.
In absolutely no
circumstances however, would I place an animals life above that
of any human for any reason.
I would just like to see
the same outrage over the life of a human being, and
particularly, that same level of outrage over children killed
through abuse, wanton neglect, callous indifference, or murdered
through the heinous act of abortion.
Where is that outrage and
why is it not being expressed? Are we keeping it to ourselves out of
fear of being ostracized? Are we afraid we will offend someone? Do we
not care for the unborn as much as we do for Fido or Muffin? I am
beginning to believe Fido and Muffin are more important to far too
many of us than are Jack and Jill or that unnamed child in the womb,
who's chance at life ended today.
Here are some quotations
from the famous and not so famous to ponder:
“You
shall not kill.”
--
Exodus 20: 13
“I
have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore
choose life . . .”
--
Deuteronomy 30:19
“Yet
thou art he who took me from the womb; thou didst keep me safe upon
my mother's breasts. Upon thee was I cast from my birth, and since my
mother bore me thou hast been my God.”
--
Psalms 22: 9-10
“Know
that the LORD is God! It is he that made us, and we are his; we are
his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”
--
Psalms 100: 3
“For
thou didst form my inward parts, thou didst knit me together in my
mother's womb. I praise thee, for thou art fearful and wonderful.
Wonderful are thy works! Thou knowest me right well; my frame was not
hidden from thee, when I was being made in secret, intricately
wrought in the depths of the earth. Thy eyes beheld my unformed
substance; in thy book were written, every one of them, the days that
were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
--
Psalm 139: 13-16
“God’s
love does not distinguish between the infant in the mother’s womb
or the child or the youth or the adult or the older person. In each
one God sees His image and likeness. Human life is a manifestation of
God and His glory.”
--
Pope Benedict XVI
“That
is the dignity of America, the reason she exists, the condition of
her survival, yes, the ultimate test of her greatness: to respect
every human person, especially the weak and most defenseless ones,
those as yet unborn.”
–
Pope Blessed John Paul II
“It
is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as
you wish.”
--
Blessed Mother Teresa
“Nothing
we do to defend the human person, no matter how small, is ever
unfruitful or forgotten. Our actions touch other lives and move other
hearts in ways we can never fully understand in this world. Don’t
ever underestimate the beauty and power of the witness you give in
your pro-life work.”
--
Archbishop Charles Chaput
“There
are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a
miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
--
Albert Einstein
“I
notice that all of the people who support abortion are already born.”
--
Ronald Reagan
“The
Church has never changed its teaching on the sanctity of human life -
it didn't make up a rule for the convenience of a particular time
like a rule at a country club as the Governor would have us believe.”
--
Wellington Mara
“That
you may retain your self-respect, it is better to displease the
people by doing what you know is right, than to temporarily please
them by doing what you know is wrong.”
--
William J. H. Boetcker
“The
best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in
your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of
right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's
plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily
bread are the sweetest things in life.”
--Robert
Louis Stevenson
