Hello to you. It’s already dark as I write to you. The sun goes down around 6:50 pm now. Link has been willing to go on walks the past couple of days. He likes to smell things and marks everything so the walk takes longer but I don’t mind.
Tonight I am thinking of a little story I came up with a long time ago. The story is about a group of people standing together under a star filled sky. They are each asked to choose a star. Each person chooses a different star but are reassured that it doesn’t matter that they chose different ones because all the stars are needed to fill the night sky.
This little story illustrates that we are biologically incapable of perceiving this existence in the same way! That’s not a bad thing.
Each perspective is equipped with senses – eyes (sight) are the biggest sense we have in common. Each set of eyes is a way for God to experience existence. Every being with eyes has a life force – emotions. Lately I have been seeing a lot of stories about food animals and how cruelly they are treated. It’s so sad to see the confusion, sadness and fear in their eyes. Some food animals like crab and lobster suffer in silence whilst being boiled alive.
Temple Grandin famously stated: “Nature is cruel, but we don’t have to be.” She also noted: “I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we’ve got to do it right. We’ve got to give those animals a decent life and we’ve got to give them a painless death. We owe the animal respect.”
From Albert Schweitzer
Dear God, protect and bless all beings that breathe, keep all evil from them, and let them sleep in peace. Amen.
From a Catholic Prayer Book
Hear our humble prayer, O God,
for our friends, the animals,
especially for those who are suffering;
for animals that are overworked,
underfed, and cruelly treated;
for all the wistful creatures in captivity,
that beat their wings against bars;
for any that are hunted or lost or deserted,
or frightened or hungry;
for all that must be put to death.
We entreat for them all
Thy mercy and pity,
and for those who deal with them,
we ask a heart of compassion
and gentle hands and kindly words.
Make us, ourselves,
to be true friends to animals
and so to share
the blessings of the Merciful.
