Love

We all know that it is ethically wrong to throw a newborn baby into a garbage can just because you don’t want it, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. I know that I could never hurt a baby but I hurt an animal every time I eat a hamburger, and just because I want it. So why do we do it, isn't it the same thing, hurting the helpless? I think if we had to go out and kill a turkey ourselves most of us would not be eating turkey on thanksgiving because we couldn’t bring ourselves to kill it. We would take one look into its sweet eyes and that would be it, no turkey this year. We all subconsciously know that we are aiding in animal abuse every time we eat meat but that is not enough to make most of us become a vegetarian. The abuse is placed at the back of our minds and we don’t think about it or we come up with excuses, such as “that is what animals are for.” But just as we were helpless as a baby animals are helpless. If we were thrown to the side and placed in the back of our mothers mind we would have been hurt, just as animals are hurt when we shove them below us in status. I think animals deserve to have rights because they are as much a part of this earth as we are and they have wants, needs, desires, thoughts, and they can love. I think my dog loves me but being human I question his ability because I place him below me even though I know I shouldn’t.

Do you think our pets can or do love us in the same way we love them? Can animals love at all?