‘You should really write.’ He flung at me. ‘But what about?’ I asked, panicked.
‘You know, humanity and things like that. You should just write.’ He went back to his newspaper and I was not encouraged to write anything more than a grocery list.
But here are my writings about “humanity and things like that”. Actually, the term “humanity” is too positive of a term. It brings out associations from the word “humane” and sadly enough, there’s not much “humane” about humans.
A better word to describe this human race of ours is simply: “people”. And in any case, it’s not humanity that concerns me so, but what it does to others.
There are number of questions, which are constantly on my mind: Why do people distinguish between wild animals they observe and photograph to those they hunt? Why do people use their religious beliefs to reaffirm themselves that using animals (whether it’s for food, sacrifice or any other form of murder) is indeed the word of god? And the question of the day is: Why do people differentiate between “pets” to farm animals?
I would like to believe that the love for domesticated animals as well as compassion for the farmed ones go hand in hand. Maybe it’s a good start: first learning that cats and dogs can feel fear, pain and love (because isn’t this what it’s all about: People learning to empathize with animals, come to realize that they can also feel the same feelings that people can, and by that show some compassion?) and then relating these ‘attributes’ to other animals.
The past week I have spent in Tel Aviv, which is where I was born, partially raised in, escaped from, returned to, left again, and now longing to come back to. Tel avivians are very helpful when it comes to cats and dogs. It is also true that vegetarianism and veganism is much more popular than many western cities, definitely more than Berlin, which is where these words are being written at. However, Israel had and still has an acute strays situation, and although there are no more stray dogs to be seen roaming around Tel Aviv, there are many stray cats, feeding from trash bins, kittens dying from eye infections and very sadly: abuse. Still, I honestly can’t think of a single person or a family that does not have a dog, a cat or both living in their apartment. Contradictions galore.
My aunt is a perfect example. Living on a ground floor in a very nice area of Jerusalem she has been feeding, caring for and giving shelter to an endless amount of cats over the years. She has also started an organization for helping stray cats in Jerusalem; their main cause is to spay and neuter strays so they don’t reproduce. But meat she eats eagerly and wants nothing to do with my veganism talks.
A short stop by an animal shelter, somewhere in the middle of Scotland’s highlands, demonstrated to me, again, just how bizarre people are: The workers get dispatched and save animals that were neglected, lost or abused. They bring them in, take care of them and hopefully find them a good adoptive home. Only one girl from the team is a vegetarian. Surely, the job that these people are doing is not less than angelic, but again I lose connection to reality when faced with the question of why do people make that vicious distinction between different species? How can one save animals all day and go home to have a steak dinner? Sadly, I know, that the question is how can one save humans all day, like a doctor and then go home and have a steak dinner. Why save one life and take another? But on the differentiation between humans and animals I will write later on. What is so illogical is still that ultimate question of saving one animal and killing another.
<First published on March 24th 2008>
