Sharon Kennedy: Animals get a bum rap – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News
I don’t like it when people call human beings animals. It’s a false comparison. I’ll admit turkeys are rather dimwitted and will drown themselves by opening their mouths and looking at the sky during a downpour, and deer really do stop and stare at a car before running in front of it, but that’s all I’ll admit. Being raised on a farm, I know the behavior of animals is not intentionally stupid, mean, cruel or vindictive. And, most importantly, animals do not lie.
Members of the fauna kingdom have no free will or freedom of choice. Whether domesticated or wild, they’re subservient to anything or anyone greater than they are. It irks me when people refer to others as animals. No animal would be caught dead doing what man does to his fellow man. Morbid recklessness is often the hallmark of modern homosapiens.
Pigs use one end of their pen for their toilet and the other for sleeping. They wouldn’t dream of scribbling graffiti on their walls, and they do not eat where they sleep so no crumbs will ever be found in their bedding. Our pigs ate from a trough. Yes, they were noisy and, no, they didn’t use napkins. True, they would have consumed napkins if they were among their slops but only because they wasted nothing and ate everything they were given.
Once a cow was put in a stall, she knew it was hers and returned to the same place every day. In all seasons, our milk cows were called in twice a day and never once did they squabble over stalls. During winter they were let out for a drink. They walked to the water tank outside the well-house. Once they drank their fill, they did not stray, throw icy snowballs at each other or refuse to return to the barn. Since they did not possess free will, they were obedient.
From what I remember, our chickens were less submissive when it was time to round them up at dusk. Some were happy to enter the coop and roost until dawn. Others were like wayward children and wanted to stay out. They didn’t realize that weasels and foxes were partial to plump hens, but there again, wild critters only acted on instinct. They would never have eaten Plucky just for the fun of it.
I was too young to remember our workhorses, but Mom said there was nothing nicer than a pair pulling together. A well-matched team would work all day and never complain. We didn’t own a donkey, but we’ve all seen pictures of one going round and round in circles as it ground grain to flour. What human would do that today? And consider the goat. There’s no better animal to have in a livestock menagerie than a goat. It’s content to eat anything.
Although I’ve seen a cat play with a mouse or bird until he got bored and ate it, animals don’t plot and scheme and gossip until they’ve destroyed another animal like humans destroy each other. Animals are governed by instinct which is not the same as man’s free will that has caused unbelievable heartache and harm since the days of Cain and Abel. Animals mind their own business unless provoked or smell a predator.
So the next time you hear people comparing deranged human maniacs to animals, set them straight. If you grew up on a farm, you know that animals have a lot more sense than the folks who deride them.
— To contact Sharon Kennedy, send her an email atsharonkennedy1947@gmail.com. Kennedy’s new book, “View from the SideRoad: A Collection of Upper Peninsula Stories,” is available from her or Amazon.
Source: News
About The Author
