I always like to push myself. Learn something new, think
about a topic in a different way and maybe go under the table to the dark
corners where no one ventures because .... it's dark? Unknown? Scary? Uncomfortable?
All of the above?
Yes, I believe in pushing myself to see all that I can be
aware of, know all that I can, and find the gestalt meaning in things. So, I’ve
been thinking about how we treat our pets lately, compared to how we treat our fellow
human beings. And I didn’t want to go there. But I forced myself, anyway.
I just finished reading In the Garden of the Beasts by Eric
Larson, a non-fiction account of U.S. Ambassador William Dodd’s assignment in
Nazi Germany. Larson reports that Dodd, in his diary, noted how much Germans
love animals—particularly horses and dogs. A law prohibiting cruelty to animals
kept the animals “happy and fat” while we know they largely chose not to see
the Nazi regime’s atrocious treatment of their fellow human beings. I also
learned from this book just how much the rest of the world turned away from the
reality of Hitler, not wishing to acknowledge his true motive of killing all
the Jews, and instead always hoping for the best. He ends one chapter with a vision of
Berlin’s pampered horses running with flames on their manes and tails when the
Russians attacked. A horrific image that stands among those more common to the
era—the Concentration Camps and their victims—to underscore the dangers of imbalance:
not looking and taking action.
So what does this have to do with how we treat animals? I
believe that we Americans are not too different from the Germans—we love our animals
and treat them well for the most part. Thankfully, we have a free society
without a fascist dictator who controls our actions and oppresses us. But we do
tend to look the other way a lot. Are we taking for granted our freedoms? Do we
lavish too much attention on our animals that instead could go toward our
fellow human beings? Would it hurt to treat our fellow human beings with as
much love and deference as we do our pets?
I once told my son, “It’s okay to spoil our pets, but it’s
not okay to spoil our children.” Now, I believe it’s not okay to spoil our
pets, either. They can get the better of our natures. I know, from personal
experience, that they will take advantage. It’s up to us, with the big brains
(supposedly), to provide the balance in the relationship.
According to Larson, Dodd wasn’t liked very much in the
State Department, (or in the Nazi regime) even though he was proven to be
correct in all of his warnings. He was a history professor who executed his
duties as Ambassador by giving speeches about past examples of extreme
behavior resulting in disastrous outcomes, in a diplomatic move to get Hitler to change his ways. Needless to
say, it didn’t work. Larson notes that Dodd’s critics in the U.S., who favored
using more appeasement, wouldn’t have been successful, either. The easier route
for Dodd would have been to conform to the expectations, but he didn’t do that.
Perhaps he understood that the only way to control Hitler was to take him out,
but he knew that wasn’t his role. In the face of this, it would be easy to use
appeasement. But he chose to act in the best way he knew how, in conformation
with his values.
This is a wildly extreme example from history, I realize,
but it gets you thinking. Do I want to take the easy route with my
relationships, or do the hard work necessary that most reflects my values? This
should be true with my pets as well as my human relationships. I hope I am
brave enough to always choose the latter. Next time I will talk about what this
means: how do I treat my pets so that
it conforms to my values? How do you treat your pets that conforms with your values?
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