I love animals but I have a pigeon phobia and hate birds in general. Last time I went to Paris I nearly died(not really) from the anxiety they gave me, and really not looking forward to returning to Paris in a couple of weeks because of them. Back story: Spoiler When I was a freshman in college and lived in the dorm there was a pigeon nest on our window ledge when we moved in. I thought oh cool, it'll be like the Animal planet show "growing up Pigeon". It was cool to see the baby pigeons slowly get bigger.... until one of them died!! Then the other baby pigeon would just sit on it's dead sibling that was still in the nest. Grossed out by that and the fact that our ledge was covered in pigeon waste. Well a few days later, we notice there were these tiny white worms all over inside our dorm by the window, in our closets and behind dressers. A quick internet search told us we had MAGGOTS- and lots of them. All thanks to that dead baby bird. A few days later, we had flies appearing out of nowhere. Dumb big fat flies that could be so easily killed. Over a course of 10 days we had about 150 flies in our room (not an exaggeration) thanks to the maggots that turn into flies, thanks to the dead baby bird. The momma pigeon came back in the spring, laid eggs and thankfully a crow came and ate the eggs. Justice. Pigeon cooing and pigeon wings fluttering sends chills down my back because of that experience. Cool story Sis.
Much more? That is messed up. We are more significant because we have the ability to contribute to this world and make it better. What the heck does a fly contribute except for diseases? Go next to a fresh pile of dog **** and you will see the flies all over the place. Now why would I want that thing carrying the same **** in my kitchen? I think those that feel more for animals just hate people in general. A cat I rescued killed a pigeon I rescued. Does that make the cat bad? If it does not then you are saying we are better than animals and therefore expect more.
I saw something similar on 288. A pigeon flew into a moving car and he was desperately trying to get up. Another pigeon stood by his side, pecking him with his beak as if urging him to "get up", not caring for his own safety. It was very sad. My non-animal lover passenger was like "eh whatever".
I have empathy for animals and people. I don't know if that makes me a good person. I don't really think people are good or bad. That's almost a religious idea to me and I don't believe in God. But if you want to get really sad just think about this thing that you all know and ignore every minute of every day of your lives. What happened to that pigeon is going to happen to you and to every single person you know. Sleep tight.
What's up with Asian people posting like idiots all of a sudden. Jeremy Lin has a solid two months of basketball, and you guys think it's okay to post like morons. Embarrassing. Anyway, my bird story. Was driving into downtown from the Katy Freeway, you know the exit, it's the Smith exit. I was probably leaving the freeway at 50 or so going into downtown, and usually, birds will move out of the way if they are chilling on the asphalt, posting up, acting all cool. I come zooming by, but this one bird though, I can stay on the asphalt for a second longer, and it did. So it flies up, but it's too late. My grill makes contact with the bird, and I see feathers fly up. Not sure what happened to the bird. I know I knocked it the **** out. Probably got ran over by other cars and trucks behind me. Was I sad? No Another time, I was on Dunvale headed south towards Richmond, and I hit a squirrel. Not sure if that squirrel died or not, but as I was driving, I looked back in my rear view, and it was still moving, it was laying down, but kicking and fighting to get back up. The end. I'm out of roadkill stories.
Better for whom? No animal ever polluted the atmosphere, no animal ever shot anyone, dropped a bomb, started a religious war, cleared a forest... I could go on. We have the ability to make the world better but mostly we indulge in our other great ability -- to make it worse.
Fortunately we exist at an individual level, not a collective one. You can choose individually to give up - or not.
That's because you're a petitely built asian with low self esteem. You've always been so fixated on your survival, from the Vietnamese immigration, the labor camps, etc. that you haven't had the security and heart to connect with the helpless. Ie - you view yourself as an object of pity, because of your inferiority complex to the white man and dehumanize everything around you as a result. No respect for anything that doesn't ensure your direct survival... it's a very short sighted way of living. Same with Beat LA, another cold hearted immigrant. Animals, in their natural state, are beautiful creatures. There's a natural food chain and we have to kill to survive at times, but having no guilt when you kill out of fun like Kamphong is pretty sad. In fact, before every meal, we should all bow down in a moment of respect to the living things (whether they be grains, or plants, or animals) that sacrificed their existence in order to ensure ours. Ottomon showed great belief to rescue that dog. Even I would have let it slide. But it shows there are always people out there who will go out of their way, to make a difference. I salute you Otto.
Bummer. I hope it was the same bird that pooped on me while I was taking a stroll on a street in Barcelona in 1971, tha b*stard.
No human ever ****ted on my car. If you feel like you've never done anything to make this world just a little bit better for someone or some animal then I dont know what to say. I agree 100% that the pollution needs to stop or be severely reduced but the oil giants prefer to have more billions.
Better for ourselves(f). My main motivation for environmentalism isn't because of the animals or trees. It's for me and everyone I know or will know. I could care less what will happen in 500 years because I know the earth will do it's thing and rebuild after a million.
You said humans were better than animals because we are capable of making the world better and they aren't. I was just pointing out that we also have a greater capacity than animals do for making it worse. So what's better? Curing Cancer and then wiping out all life with a nuclear bomb? Or neither?
I was referring to the poster commenting on an individual level about feeling sorry for one pet being abused and not for a person getting killed by an animal. I take no responsibility for my fellow man. The world was already messed up when I got here and it'll be worse do the the greed of man when I leave. I can only make this world a little bit better if I choose to do so. No one individual can rid this world of its man created problems and that has to be done on a group level. Also referring to the guy who said I'm not more significant than a fly. A good individual is better therefore more significant than a fly.
