The compassion we show animals is definitive about our capacity to be

[welsummerchicks]

Why would you get so angry and be so rude?

I couldn't think of a single organization that helps both vets and kids, there are umbrella organizations that cover many different programs, though, such as United Way. I actually like United Way and donations to them can either be general or marked for specific programs.

You don't have to explain to me how to help Americans. I started tutoring juvenile delinquents as a volunteer when I was thirteen years old, that was forty years ago, and I have done volunteer work pretty much continuously since then. Vets, homeless, nursing home residents, blind, autistic, multiple handicap, developmentally disabled, all of the above programs.

I'm not saying I'm anyone special either. There are plenty of people like me, all doing things very, very locally, all have been doing it for years, decades. My mother did too and my family taught me that was part of my responsibility as a citizen. She used to be a volunteer aide for blind people. My sister would spend a month every year in a different third world country and do volunteer work there.

The next generation teaches their kids to volunteer today too. I recall at a soup kitchen one Christmas and there was a lady there with her teenage kids and another lady there with younger kids, all working in and having a good time. For some people, volunteering and working to help other Americans is just a way of life.

No, those people aren't on TV or in news articles, most of them are not getting congratulated or getting awards. They drive their own cars, spend their own money on transportation. One lady I know would go to the store and buy towels and soap and toothbrushes with her own money whenever the community program she volunteered in, ran out of these items at the end of the quarter when their funding was used up. I'm sure many other people do all sorts of selfless things as volunteers.

They just quietly go about doing their thing. And there are a whole bunch of them. There is no need to get so mad about people not helping Americans enough, because a whole lot of people are doing a whole lot of things.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Sorry..i guess i took your post the wrong way...

My bad..

 

[gritsar]

Call me a bad person but I'll continue to support animal causes, veterans services and elderly needs because that where my heart is. If someone else feels lead to help with other causes, including children in need, that's their money and their business.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
Right..

Everyone needs to follow their OWN heart and mind their own business on this type of thing...
If folks want to help other countries.. well..its their business..
but dont tell me that i should be helping other countries ... when thats not MY concern...
Mind your own...
To each their own business...

And noone would dare call my Gritty a bad person! I'd... I'd... have ta hurt 'um...

 

[noodleroo]

Kindness is kindness. It should be what we are; not just how we act. If you are kind, it doesn't matter if you are dealing with humans or animals. It doesn't matter if you donate money of time. If you are kind in the acts of your daily life, that's all you have to be....

 

[PineappleMama]

Quote:
Better be careful... too many posts like that and people will start thinking you're one of those crazy libertarians.

 

[chickenguru]

Quote:
I don't know. That statement makes it seem that if a person cannot be compassionate
to an animal that they can not be compassionate to a human being.
Myself, if a dog,cat or other animal runs out in the road so fast that I cannot stop
safely it's going to more than likely get hit. I will not endanger my life trying to stop,
whereas on the other hand if a child or an adult for that matter darts out in front
of me I will do all I can to avoid hitting them even if I have to take to the ditch
again.(Say againg because I have had to do it before). So does that in someway
make me uncompassionate?
Too many times it seems as if animals are put on a high pedestal to be somehow put on the same level as
humans and in some instances even more important.
I am not condoning the bad treatment of animals but I think that our ability as humans to help
the less fortunate and even helping those we don't really care for goes a long way in how we treat
our animals.

 

[welsummerchicks]

I'm not sure it really makes you 'not compassionate'. You're just using your values to make a decision, and I'm not sure you need to get so worked up, no one has put you down for saying that.

Most people, they would go by situation. They might make a fairly safe attempt, but stop short of harming themselves for a dog. I've seen news reports where people did incredible things to rescue dogs, but they would say, spend hours dig down to a drain pipe, instead of jumping down the drain pipe and dying too.

Besides, talking about what we 'would do' might be of limited value. When things go very wrong, people react on the spur of the moment. They don't always do what they would think they would do. They might do something totally opposite or nothing, or they might leap in and do something they would never really imagine they would do.

Me, I would try to evaluate the situation very quickly, every situation is different. If I thought I could catch a dog before it got into the road, I would. I might risk a sprained ankle or wrist, but stop short of that. But I also know in some situations a dog would not be acting normal. It might bite me, evade me and keep going. My friend's dog got kicked by a horse, it took off and no one could catch it, it bit two people and still got across the road.

I would risk more for another human being. Most of us are just taught that that is our duty.

Back to giving to charity. This seems to be a topic that gets people really worked up and resentful. Why? It's probably good to examine that and think about it. Some people might feel guilty because they don't give to charity, or angry that international causes should not have priority.

Some people just resent the whole idea of cash charity, and don't feel they should give a red cent to anyone, after all, they worked their tail off for their money. So these people are not donating to anything. So what? Usually they are the first people to step up to the plate if a relative is in trouble, and if you look into it you find they are doing quite a lot of different things to help others.

Just because someone has a different feeling about charity, does not mean they have to automatically assume they have to defend themselves so loud, most people actually will accept and understand your choices.

 

[teach1rusl]

Quote:
AMEN! Someone here on BYC has the Ghandi quote: "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated" in their signature line. Many people have attitudes toward animals that makes me feel so sad about where we are as human beings. I have to put it out of my head because it depresses me a little.
I don't think killing an animal is cruel...I think it's all in the attitude and method. Even little kids can learn respect for living creatures. My boy got swatted big time (as well as a big talk about living creatures) when he was little for burning/trying to burn ants with a magnifying glass. Some would look at that as "just a kid thing," no big deal. But it's cruel!! I still let him use the magnifying glass on leaves, but showed him how fun it was to sprinkle crushed up bits of sugary cereal around the ant hills and watch them carry it off... Hopefully I've instilled something in him that will help him to be a compassionate adult.

 

[welsummerchicks]

I think it is a normal thing for boys to egg each other on and wind up TRYING those things, when they are very young, I am not sure it is some budding serial killer, I think it is normal for boys to try out some of that behavior.

I am not sure that means they should be cut loose and let do all those things without consequence. When we were little my cousin had quite a tendency to have pets die around him. Put a parakeet's head in the door by the hinges and opened the door so it was killed, things like that. He would get really oddly lit up when he did these things. He would also try and make it work out so it looked like someone else did it. When he was found out he would cry and deny it and act like he was upset it happened.

With most little boys, they don't quite get the connection between doing those things and killing or hurting and that animals have feelings, and they can LEARN that. I don't blame parents for the occasional kid in which the kid just...there is something not quite whole or right in the kid's head, and all the teaching in the world doesn't take.

No, he didn't grow up to be a serial killer. But he is a tense person who easily gets angry. Has gone through some jobs and a couple wives. I'm not sure you can 100% retrain a person if he's made up a certain way, but you sure can try, and with most kids it will take, they will learn, and it willl be fine.