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Our Lost Humanity for Our Rabbits
If you spend much time in the center of the city of Richmond, B.C. you will see rabbits. It is not a choice; it is simply an inevitable fact. Rabbits by the gas station. Rabbits by the sports fields. Rabbits in the parking lot of the fire station. Rabbits by the roadside curb. Rabbits by city hall. Truly they are everywhere. And as I pulled into my driveway last night, sure enough I saw 2 large rabbits in the bushes right there. Where they came from I do not know, but there they were. My point being that the existence of the rabbits here cannot be ignored.
And if you spend any time reading the local news, you receive even more information that not only do these rabbits exist in great numbers, but they are abandoned rabbits. Abandoned pets that live difficult at best and horrendous at worst lives, that are cut short far too soon.
So why is it that this knowledge has for years now, somehow translated itself into a general acceptance of what is happening right in front of us? Yes I see the rabbits are there, yes I read they live horrible lives, but that is how it is...that sort of thinking is what I refer to.
I can only suspect that somewhere in this thinking there is a missing link and I wonder what it is. Some missing connection between our knowledge of what is taking place and our humanity and sense of what is right and wrong.
Now if each rabbit had a sign on it stating when and where and how it would meet its death, would that make a difference I wonder? If you saw a rabbit wearing a sign that said, "Tomorrow I will be hit by a car while crossing the road in my search for food to feed my malnourished body, and I will be tossed 10 feet after which I will drag my broken, bleeding body into the bushes and lie there in pain shaking, until finally my heart will go into shock and I will die alone and afraid." Would people then react? Would that be what it takes for acceptance to change into, this is not acceptable! Do we need to actually have concrete knowledge of the brutal reality of how each rabbit's life will end? Would that make a difference?
I do not have the answers to be sure. But I can't help but wonder what it would take for the general acceptance of what is happening right in front of us, to turn into an outcry and a refusal to allow this daily tragedy to take place. What would it take for the humanity we all have inside us to rise to the surface?
You see if we say nothing and do nothing in the face of this inhumane suffering of our rabbits, then we, along with the rabbits, will ultimately pay the price. For in the words of Albert Schweitzer, "Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man himself will not find peace."
And if you spend any time reading the local news, you receive even more information that not only do these rabbits exist in great numbers, but they are abandoned rabbits. Abandoned pets that live difficult at best and horrendous at worst lives, that are cut short far too soon.
So why is it that this knowledge has for years now, somehow translated itself into a general acceptance of what is happening right in front of us? Yes I see the rabbits are there, yes I read they live horrible lives, but that is how it is...that sort of thinking is what I refer to.
I can only suspect that somewhere in this thinking there is a missing link and I wonder what it is. Some missing connection between our knowledge of what is taking place and our humanity and sense of what is right and wrong.
Now if each rabbit had a sign on it stating when and where and how it would meet its death, would that make a difference I wonder? If you saw a rabbit wearing a sign that said, "Tomorrow I will be hit by a car while crossing the road in my search for food to feed my malnourished body, and I will be tossed 10 feet after which I will drag my broken, bleeding body into the bushes and lie there in pain shaking, until finally my heart will go into shock and I will die alone and afraid." Would people then react? Would that be what it takes for acceptance to change into, this is not acceptable! Do we need to actually have concrete knowledge of the brutal reality of how each rabbit's life will end? Would that make a difference?
I do not have the answers to be sure. But I can't help but wonder what it would take for the general acceptance of what is happening right in front of us, to turn into an outcry and a refusal to allow this daily tragedy to take place. What would it take for the humanity we all have inside us to rise to the surface?
You see if we say nothing and do nothing in the face of this inhumane suffering of our rabbits, then we, along with the rabbits, will ultimately pay the price. For in the words of Albert Schweitzer, "Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man himself will not find peace."
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