Tolerance & empathy towards animals is the first lesson that children must be taught! Image courtesy @Fernfly
“Dogs are minor angels, and I don’t mean that facetiously. They love unconditionally, forgive immediately, are the truest of friends, willing to do anything that makes us happy, etcetera. If we attributed some of those qualities to a person we would say they are special. If they had ALL of them, we would call them angelic. But because it’s “only” a dog, we dismiss them as sweet or funny but little more. However when you think about it, what are the things that we most like in another human being? Many times those qualities are seen in our dogs every single day– we’re just so used to them that we pay no attention.”
― Jonathan Carroll
Charles Barsotti, the beloved cartoonist of The New Yorker magazine was renowned for sending across a deeper message, often poignant, without trying too hard. In one of my favorite cartoons, he visits death and after-life as something worth welcoming!
The cartoon strip featured St. Peter and a dog named Rex welcoming the recently deceased man.
I am not sure if angels have wings but I have seen them with tails. https://t.co/SU6gNNS4AC pic.twitter.com/hHXsckfpJI
— Abhishek Joshi 👨💻🐶 (@kaalicharan) February 22, 2016
Tolerance & empathy towards animals is the first lesson that children must be taught!
Absolutely!
On another note, this post reminds me of Mahatma Gandhi’s quote “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
Instead of teaching tolerance and empathy towards animals, I have seen parents transfer their fear of animals to their children. So, when the adults are not around, and I’m walking Veeroo (my Red Setter), I encourage kids to come and make friends with him. On one such meet-and-greet occasion, one nine-year old girl asked me if I had got the “poison removed from the dog’s teeth”!! I’ve never heard anything more bizarre and I’m sure the girl must have learnt this from her parents or adults around her! Sheesh!