Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Research animals

Today I was upset about seeing some rats being experimented on in the lab I work in. It made me think (although there are other times I think about this stuff too):

Everything, down to the blue-algae in the sea, is full of life, and is also food to some predator. How can I be upset to see what goes on in a laboratory, when I myself eat hamburgers, turkey, chicken, etc. Where do I think they came from? They, too, were slaughtered (and probably not humanely) so that we can eat. I always hoped that all animals had a soul - even though most religions claim only humans do. How could that be? Just because we are more highly developed, we are still animals, just like those rats - what makes us so different? Our intelligence (or so-called intelligence)? How do we know that rats don’t have their own kind of intelligence, or are even self-aware as we are? Or cats? Or dogs? Just because we don’t understand them and how they think, doesn’t mean we can use them at will for whatever purposes we see fit. Or does it? Because we are at the top of the food chain, does that give us a right to take the lives of any kind of animal for our own purposes?

But on the other hand, if someone told me that my husband, my nephews, or ANYONE, was sick and going to die unless they could find a cure (using animal research), I would be for it!

I am such a hypocrite!

And what if NONE of us has a soul? Then why are we here? What is the point of life? Why should we all try to be “good” then?

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