Lack of gratitude and respect for life will cause humanity to die out

By Lethbridge Herald on July 7, 2023.

Editor: 

I was inspired by Al Beeber’s story of his dogs, Ben, Rio, and Izzy Grey. (July 1, page A10) 

The following is a reflection on our relationship with animals: 

Once we adopted through the local PAW Society a male cat infected by Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV). We wanted to give the poor animal a taste of love before the end of his tragic life. He turned out to be the most affectionate family member. Almost all the cats we adopted were rescued cats. 

They go outside only under supervision. Having enjoyed the company of several such feline friends, we decided that the ones who were affectionate must have been loved but lost, but the difficult ones were abused and learned to fear humans. 

We named the FIV cat Tsotsi. In South African Sotho language the name means a juvenile gangster. It is also the title of an award winning South African movie. The film is a story of a tough street kid left orphaned by HIV parents. However as the story progressed, his latent tender heart led him to sacrifice himself to save a baby. Our cat Tsotsi must have been abused by a man. He hated men but my wife bonded with him. He followed her everywhere. According to the veterinarian, who examined the cat to certify his health for adoption, his injured bone structure convinced him that our little guy was either kicked hard in the chest or thrown out of a fast-moving vehicle. 

Why did anyone, who had no interest in caring for the animal, adopt a cat? It’s a living thing, not a plastic toy. You have a responsibility when you decide to take any living organism into your life, be it a cat, a fish, or a plant. A friend who researches the meat industry once said of his family cat: “She is also white meat.” His wife was a cat lover and didn’t speak to him for days. 

Pets are family and friends, not meat. Pet lovers can understand indigenous ways of thinking about animals.

 They are children of the Creator, our brothers and sisters. Thunderbirds and Chinook Salmons embody the spirits of the ancestors. Many animals sacrifice themselves to nourish us like bison do for Indigenous people of the Prairies. Albert Schweitzer, the doctor of medicine and the founder of the leprosorium in Gabon, said that the foundation of his religious belief was “respect for life.” He was also a respected theologian known for his work in “Quest for Historical Jesus.”

 The dilemma of our relationship with animals is: we live by eating animals and plants. Vegetarians eat plants. 

They too are living organisms. The fact is all lives sustain themselves by the sacrifices of other life-forms: be they animals, insects, or plants. Germs and other microbes too live by eating, making us sick and taking us as nutrients. But our medical science developed so well that microbes are killed so that we live. We drove smallpox into extinction. We also enjoy consuming bacteria products like beer, yoghurt, natto and soy sauce.

The fossils which are our main source of energy used to be animals and plants that lived on the earth millions of years ago. They died but stored sources of energy from the Sun as carbon and provided energy for us. Topsoil also is made of dead organisms. Grains and vegetables are nurtured by nutrients from topsoil. 

All life forms depend on other lives that give themselves up as nutrients to sustain us. We live in the interdependent world. It’s a cruel reality. 

Lamb of God is the symbol of life-giving self-sacrifice. Christianity, Islam, and Judaism remember it. Lamb was said to have been sacrificed to save the Hebrew nation. Jesus is called “Lamb of God” and a piece of bread is called “Body of Christ.” It is a metaphor of the cruel truth about life: life lives because other lives give up their own. When we acknowledge the cruel reality of interdependence of life, we must be grateful and respect all lives. Animals should not be just meat. 

They are not mere commodities and raw material. We must realize the devastating effect on many life-forms because of our lack of respect in exploiting other lives. 

Newfoundland cod fisheries ended because of overfishing. B.C. salmon had been overfished and are now almost totally dependent on aquatic farming. Whales are still in danger of disappearing. So are elephants and sharks just because ivory and shark fins are profitable as ornaments and delicacies. Their bodies are callously discarded and left to rot. 

The number of species currently endangered are countless. Trees are burning if not disappearing by clear-cutting and climate change. Millions of species are on the verge of extinction. All because of the lack of gratitude and respect for life. If continued, we will also die out because of lack of respect for life. We live in an interdependent ecosystem. Love of our pets should teach us the importance of respect for the natural order.

Tadashi (Tad) Mitsui

Lethbridge