Compassion

 

Consideration For Other Creatures
The Nation, editorial — September 2006
Too many people do not give much thought to the importance of animal welfare in general, or specifically the need for humane treatment in the use and exploitation of animals as food, beasts of burden, scientific experiments and entertainment...

Is Compassion the New Black? Teaching Kindness Could Be All the Rage in Your Child’s School
Anne Pelletier, The Brooklyn Rail, interview with Zoe Weil — July 2006
By exposing children to these issues and by raising their awareness we can help them to become critical thinkers, problem solvers who can address the challenges that face our planet...

Baby Monkey in Pain
Ashima Sharma, Ghaziabad Animal Shelter, essay — June 2006
With the use of a plass, her teeth are terribly uprooted without any anesthesia. Her mouth starts bleeding but who cares? Then the wound is pressed with a burning iron rod to stop the bleeding by cruel monkey performer...

'Us and the Animals' — The Thinking Behind the Song
Jimi Slevin, essay — January 2006
This is nothing other than callous barbarity, and again we as a species let ourselves down badly in this whole area. Far from being cocky, proud and self-assured, we should simply be ashamed of ourselves...

Tiny Heartbeats Amid Katrina's Wreckage
Brenda Shoss, Kinships Circle, essay — November 2005
As hurricane headlines vanish from daily news, a little dog named Bingo is found in a bathtub too weak to lift her head. A skin-and-bones Doberman mix is plucked from the trash...

Putting On the Dog
Jeff Yang, SF Gate, feature — October 2005
Tired of jokes about how Asians are more likely to have a hound on the table than under it, proud pooch-owner Jeff Yang explores the state of canine companionship in Asia, to find a continent that's increasingly going to the dogs...

Saving Spike... A True Katrina Tale about Two Brendas and a Dog Named Spike
Brenda Shoss, Kinship Circle, commentary — October 2005
I got through to "boat people," animal rescue groups, parish sheriffs, and ordinary citizens. On Brenda's behalf, I granted permission to break down doors and shatter windows. But with each passing day, I wondered "Is tonight his last? Will the heat, starvation, or water finally take him?"
...

A Dog Called Saviour
Caitlin Collins, AnimalSentience.com, feature — September 2005
The idea of reciprocal aid [between humans and animals] interests me. It has been sadly lacking in the history of human-animal interaction, which is largely an account of the human exploitation of animals — a top predator lording it over those lower down the food chain...

Best Friends Need Shelter, Too
Karen Dawn, Washington Post, commentary — September 2005
There is a class issue involved here. While Marriott hotels welcomed the pets of Katrina evacuees as "part of the family," people who had to rely on the Red Cross for shelter were forced to abandon that part of the family or attempt to ride out the storm. It cannot be denied that many poor people are dead as a result of "no pets" policies...

What We Owe What We Eat
George Will, Newsweek, commentary — July 2005
Why, Matthew Scully asks, is cruelty to a puppy appalling and cruelty to livestock by the billions a matter of social indifference?...

Fear Factories: The Case for Compassionate Conservatism
Matthew Scully, The American Conservative, feature — May 2005
Setting aside the distracting rhetoric of animal rights, that's usually what these questions come down to: what moral standards should guide us in our treatment of animals, and when must those standards be applied in law?...

Field Notes on the Compassionate Life
Marc Ian Barasch, except from
Field Notes on the Compassionate Life: A Search for the Soul of Kindness
Acknowledging a sentient world might make us kinder, gentler citizens
of a planet that has already had to endure more than its share of our cruelties...

A Human Zoo of Pet Obsession
Hyder Jawad, IC Birmingham, commentary — March 2005
We claim to be civilized but we are, to my knowledge, the only living creatures who slaughter other living creatures in the name of sport. We are also the only creatures to buy dogs as Christmas presents and discard then on Boxing Day when the novelty has worn off...

The Limits of Human Dominion
Alison Hills, The Guardian, article — March 2005
It would be much better to stop talking about rights and instead to ask two simple questions. When, if ever, may we make animals suffer? And when, if ever, may we kill them?...

Big Earl and Me
Richad Hoyle, essay — March 2004
When the trailer pulled up and they dropped the gate / I knew his arrival was more than fate / One look in his eyes and I could plainly tell / His life with us would go very well
A special bond there soon would be / Between this pig, Big Earl, and me...

The Heart Does Not Deceive
Ed Duvin, Guardian Campaign, essay — 2005
I have written many hundreds of articles as an essayist and ethicist, but none to equal the strength of conviction that prompts me to write you now...

 

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