NATION

PASSWORD

Post

Region: Peace

Messages

The Peaceable Kingdom of Lions and Lambs

Pirouettes wrote:Dear all - I usually try to tip the balance here in favor of compassion during the Z-Day events, but it looks like it may not be enough to move the needle this year. I'll be back in about 24 hours.

----

Also, what a refreshingly lovely conversation about literature. I wonder what it is about thinking or reading about the death of a beloved animal that makes it so poignant. (The greater knowledge of the people who care for it about what is happening, combined with an inability to change the outcome?) Perhaps it's because we put our guard up when it's a person; we expect the impact and brace for it. But telling the story about the death of an animal disarms us, makes it easier to see the simple profundity of the loss.

Thanks for trying to cure folks on Z-Day. I didn't think there would be anyone around.

As to stories involving the deaths of animals, I think the points you've brought up are good ones. Certainly the knowledge of the humans, combined with the animal's inability to comprehend the cause of its suffering, is a major reason and one that really gets me.

Most of my personal experience with animals involves dogs. The way that they show unconditional love and devotion and implicit trust is unlike anything else I've known, outside of infants. Not being able to communicate why they may be suffering or even dying is heartbreaking, and makes you feel helpless. Especially when they turn to you during such extreme moments.

That, combined with their inherent innocence, makes it feel tragic. Again, the only other related feeling I've found is in the innocence of a small baby.

Nangijala

ContextReport