Every one of you is worthy of respect. Everyone and everything is worthy of respect.
Animals that are being raised for food deserve and are worthy of respect. They will eventually become the food that keeps us nourished and alive, so they deserve to be treated with all the kindness and care while we are raising them. The universe has been kind enough to allow us to do what we like doing in raising them, so we owe it to the universe to treat it's animals with the respect that is given to us.
Pets are worthy of our respect. They give us their lives filled with joys, comfort and company they give. Treating them badly would just not be right.
Wild animals give us the joys and pleasure of watching them as they do their jobs of keeping the earth from being overgrown by vegetation and some by keeping the earth from being overcome by other animals. They too can be part of our food chain and should be respected.
I go so far as to say, trees deserve our respect along with all the other plants on the planet. Trees and other plants give us oxygen that we breath, give us food we eat and even give us resources to make the clothes we wear. They also give us great beauty and pleasure to enjoy.
Life simply begins and ends. A life that gives in any way is worthy of respect.
When anything begins to take more than it's fair share it begins to lose respect and just like a weed in a garden it will be plucked and disposed of.
Nature takes care of that in forests with vines that grow and choke trees that have become overgrown and rob the plants of the forest floor of life giving sun. This allows the other plants to grow and prosper.
Weeds that shoot their roots deep for nutrients and bring up what they need and more, that is then stored nearer the surface, are eventually choked out by plants that use those nutrients they need but can't reach on their own.
Animals that live by killing and eating other animals die off when the other animals are scarce and their food is harder to find. Their populations are dependent on the others.
As civilization has grown it's found that people who take advantage of others by stealing in any way were better controlled by putting them in jails. The “don't do that approach” just didn't work.
People who kill and promote killing were put out of the picture by killing them before they killed off all the good people. But today we just lock them up too and keep them like unwanted, dangerous animals in cages we call jails.
But even those people who do wrong are given at least some respect...
So why is it that so many husbands and wives give no respect to their spouses? I have witnessed that from both men and women... I happen to think this world would be a much better place if we would all learn to respect.
I agree wholeheartedly. In trying to understand why people hurt each other, I have come to the conclusion that many people are not taught any better. It begins at home and continues on the journey through school, and yet we are still waiting to see a basic education class on communication and psychology taught to our kids. We need to educate the growing child, on how to better understand, empathize and respect themselves & each other. Such a simple solution that would continue a cycle of positive nurturing rather than the current cycle of abuse we often see. What you wrote about taking our share, and the 'balance' of life, is so true. Human greed has indeed upset the balance and although we are learning to give back, with building using recycled materials, and re-growing forests and running programs to help endangered animals etc, we still have a long way to go. My wish, is that everyone could read what you've written here and acknowledge the truth of it and do their bit to make things right. Sorry for the long reply, but I am passionate about the points you made and couldn't resist! Keep up the good work Ivan. And ...... Thank You :-)
ReplyDeleteA lot of the problem is that many in society don't begin teaching respect for animals and nature at home. They don't even teach true respect for fellow humans at home anymore. That was something the grandparents and older generations did, but today we seem to have forgotten...
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