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Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts

Saturday, September 26, 2015

The Instinct to Help is Hardwired Into Us





This story of Derby the Dog proves, at least to my satisfaction, that God made us after all, despite what the survival-of-the-fittest evolutionary model claims to the contrary.  It illustrates the kindness of people toward animals and, for that matter, toward any fellow creature in trouble. There is no basis in Darwin's survival of the fittest evolutionary model for any evolved creature to do this kind of thing. We should, by all accounts, be programmed to claw our way to the top, using and abusing anything that gets in our way or impedes our ascent. That we stoop to help ugly dogs, disease ridden stray cats and risk our lives to cut a fishing net off an entangled whale speaks to a very non-evolutionary impulse in humans to be kind to those whom we cannot use to our advantage, to creatures that cannot but cost us labor, expense, time and personal risk to aid them in their predicaments. 



We (at least most of us) even rush to the aid of our fellow humans in need, even though in an evolutionary sense they are our direct competitors in the struggle for evolutionary supremacy. We even lend a hand, when it was their own decisions that put them in peril in the first place. The landscape of humanity is littered with food banks, homeless shelters, soup kitchens and grandmas raising half a dozen or so of their irresponsible offspring's babies and grandbabies despite being old, worn out and having raised one generation already.  We do it because we have an innate sense that it is right to do so.


Evolutionary processes did not put that there.

God made us to care for the world. We do it almost instinctively - especially if we happen to be good friends with our Creator. We know what is right and we have to work very hard to push that knowledge of what is right to do aside so that we can be able to act like thugs, punks and bullies. It's hard in the beginning to be a sinner. We know better.  It's hard-wired into us.


© 2015 by Tom King


Saturday, March 09, 2013

There are Cat People & Dog People


One type of person is happy and well-adjusted.  One is not.
(c) 2013 by Tom King

I'm just saying.  I've owned dogs and tended to cats over the past fifty years or so. I've noticed there is a a profound difference between these two favorite pet species and how they interact with their owners.  Here are some things I've observed.

  • Cats are socialists and in charge of all things.  Dogs are libertarians and think you're a pretty great leader.
  • Cats are politicians. Dogs are voters.
  • Your dog will die to protect you from an attacker.  The cat will hide till it's all over.
  • Your dog is always glad you're home. The cat wonders why it took you so long to get there and why her supper bowl is still empty.
  • Your dog will bring you your slippers.  The cat will pee in them if you still haven't filled his supper bowl.
  • Your dog will fetch the ball when you throw it. The cat plays with the ball to amuse herself, until it rolls under something and then she will sit there with an exasperated look on her face and wait for you to fetch it. 
  • Your dog brings you toys to play with.  The cat brings you dead rodents and leaves them in your shoes.
  • Your dog wants you to feel good about yourself. Your cat wants you to make her feel good about herself.
  • Your dog thinks you are clever, funny and can do anything you put your mind to.  Your cat thinks you might just be able to handle a can opener with the proper supervision.
  • Your dog hard down loves you. The cat needs to think about it for a day or two before she answers that question. 
  • Your dog will sleep on the foot of your bed till you wake up (even if you don't wake till 10 or 11.  The cat will walk around on your face at 6 am because you haven't filled her bowl yet.
  • Dogs have family. Cats have staff.
You have been warned.

Tom