Thoughts: Leaving Animals Alone, Whenever We Can
There is this something that’s been bothering me for a long while.
It’s about children versus animals.
Or should I say, city children versus little animals?
Somehow (and sadly) I’ve seen too many scenarios similar to these:
A child sees a ladybird in the garden, and he attempts to crush it.
A group of children spotted a trail of ants in a park, and they all start jumping around and stepping on them.
School children spotted a butterfly on a wall just outside of school, and they started poking it with sticks and whatever that they can find.
While waiting for his food to be served, a 5-year-old boy saw a cat under a parked car, and he starts to make noises, stomps his feet towards it, attempting to scare the cat away, in the name of fun.
…
Of course I’ve seen many, MANY children who adore animals too.
But to those who seem to be ignorant and mean, here’re my two questions:
1. Why oh why must you harm / disturb / kill little animals that are in the outdoors anyway, and are not doing any harm to you?
(Reason no. 1: sometimes it’s more about having greater power over something else and oppressing the vulnerable ones? If this is the case, it is just so wrong. Reason no. 2: Often it’s done by city kids, because they hardly spend time outdoors, minimal encounters with nature, that they regard nature and whatever creatures they see as ‘enemies’. Reason no. 3: plain ignorance towards anything other than themselves)
2. Have we as the adults been actively teaching the children to LEAVE the creatures alone, since they’re in the outdoors anyway?
(More often than not, the adults are simply not aware of it and can’t quite see the reason why the acts are wrong or need to be stopped)
…
Now, look … I love animals, but I must say, I don’t fancy ALL of them.
I have this phobia of house lizards. And I cannot stand being too near to frogs of any type.
But, having said that, there’s this one thing that I surely teach the kids, and it is : “to leave animals alone, whenever we can”.
ie. We can kill the animals if :
1. They’re inside our home and we can’t get rid of them without killing them (eg. Despite my phobia of house lizards, if anyone can remove them safely from my home, I welcome the act!)
2. They’re pests and they’re bothering us, or are inside our home (eg. Flies, mosquitoes, ants, termites?)
Otherwise, we should just leave them alone, whenever we can.
…
A few days ago, our family went for a trip to a rainforest (Gunung Halimun National Park).
I thought it’s a wonderful time to be closer to nature, to see animals and plants all around us, and learn to appreciate them better.
And, as Wilson took a photo of a beautiful, tiny spider (pictured above), it was also a chance for Anya and Vai to see the importance of leaving creatures alone, in their own habitat, without harming or disturbing them.
…
Well, I can’t guarantee that our children will grow up to love and appreciate God’s creatures.
But we do instill the values and bring them to the outdoors when we can, and with such exposures, we hope they will gradually see nature and its creatures as less foreign and less of an enemy.
Any thoughts to share?
