Oh my heart....

[Jenny A]

I feel more about people suffering than animals but only if I really see the people and the animals. I ought to feel more about 50 dead in Iraq then a local teen dying in a car crash, but the reverse is true. Thus the dead dog hits me hared than the starving in Africa. It's a wiring problem. Photos, and personal stories help make tragedy far away more real. The greatest moral instruments of modern times are the camera and the internet.

[Whateverist]

Very true. It is a sad loss.

[Catholic_Lady]

I get all messed up even when watching fictional TV shows and movies.  When I see a horse fall on it's side, I cry every time.  Once, I saw a squirrel crawling across the road; half of it had been run over by a car (this was years ago, and I'm getting choked up thinking about it), so I called an animal rescue and stayed with it until they came.  Another time, I came across a seagull that had been hit by a car, caught it in a wine box (luckily there was a liquor next door), and drove an hour to meet a seagull rescue lady.  I asked her to keep me posted, but she said she was just going to put Stanley (I named him Stanley) down.  I cried for two days.

I don't know why, but I'm not the same with people.  Sure, I have empathy, and I'm sad when people are suffering; I just don't have the gut-wrenching mortification that happens deep down that I do for animals.

I'm the same way, and I have a theory for this.

I think it's because I see humans as being on the top of the food chain, and animals as being weaker. It's like seeing a child suffer verses an adult suffer. They're both horrible, but seeing it happen to a child seems all the more sad because children are weaker, more defenseless, and more innocent than a fully grown person. I feel like we have a certain instinctive duty to protect those weaker than us, and to me, animals fall into that category.

[rexbeccarox]

I get all messed up even when watching fictional TV shows and movies.  When I see a horse fall on it's side, I cry every time.  Once, I saw a squirrel crawling across the road; half of it had been run over by a car (this was years ago, and I'm getting choked up thinking about it), so I called an animal rescue and stayed with it until they came.  Another time, I came across a seagull that had been hit by a car, caught it in a wine box (luckily there was a liquor next door), and drove an hour to meet a seagull rescue lady.  I asked her to keep me posted, but she said she was just going to put Stanley (I named him Stanley) down.  I cried for two days.

I don't know why, but I'm not the same with people.  Sure, I have empathy, and I'm sad when people are suffering; I just don't have the gut-wrenching mortification that happens deep down that I do for animals.

I'm the same way, and I have a theory for this.

I think it's because I see humans as being on the top of the food chain, and animals as being weaker. It's like seeing a child suffer verses an adult suffer. They're both horrible, but seeing it happen to a child seems all the more sad because children are weaker, more defenseless, and more innocent than a fully grown person. I feel like we have a certain instinctive duty to protect those weaker than us, and to me, animals fall into that category.

My thinking is similar, but I don't think it's because animals are "weaker", necessarily, rather that is' just hard to communicate with animals. I can ask a person, "what hurts?" With an animal, it's way harder; same with children: their communication skills aren't honed. Some of it has to do with weakness too though, for sure.

[Catholic_Lady]

I'm the same way, and I have a theory for this.

I think it's because I see humans as being on the top of the food chain, and animals as being weaker. It's like seeing a child suffer verses an adult suffer. They're both horrible, but seeing it happen to a child seems all the more sad because children are weaker, more defenseless, and more innocent than a fully grown person. I feel like we have a certain instinctive duty to protect those weaker than us, and to me, animals fall into that category.

My thinking is similar, but I don't think it's because animals are "weaker", necessarily, rather that is' just hard to communicate with animals.  I can ask a person, "what hurts?" With an animal, it's way harder; same with children: their communication skills aren't honed.  Some of it has to do with weakness too though, for sure.

Yes, that too.

[KUSA]

None of you wouldn't have survived long in the OT times. God expects animals to be sacrificed to him. He finds the aroma pleasing.

[The Valkyrie]

Yes, but we live in a time after the Enlightenment (though you certainly couldn't tell in some parts of the world). The wants and needs of a deity that likely doesn't exist have no meaning or relevance to many of us.

[Ravenshire]

I'm empathetic.

Fixed that for you.

[AFTT47]

Empathy sure as hell isn't something to be ashamed of. NOT having it is another matter.

[Catholic_Lady]

I'm feeling ok now. I couldn't stop crying when I came home and made this thread. People need to be careful on the road. It's not that hard to not hit a cat on a 35 mph residential road.