Since it is spring a lot of ants have come into our house and a couple of spiders and my wife always has me kill them on sight. Where do we draw the line about killing things? My wife and mother would say that spiders don't deserve to live. I always tell them that spiders kill the other bugs that they don't like but that doesn't change their minds. In my opinion I wouldn't kill a spider, I would just set it outside of my house and let it live because it is a living creature.
It goes the same way with mice, except I don't feel so bad for mice. Personally I don't mind killing them because I truely don't know their purpose in "our" environment and it makes my wife happy. So, where do we draw the line when it is good or bad to kill a living creature?
¡Finzamos!
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5 comments:
I live in an old house up on the mountain about 15 minutes south of the university and I have been seeing more ants and spiders now that the spring is on its way (though one couldn't tell to look outside and see all the stupid snow). My philosophy is that if they have stumbled inside and made their web or nest or what have you, they deserve to die. I kill them all on sight because where there is one there will be many. Outside they do more good than harm, they deserve to live. Inside, they've forfeited their lives. You all might not agree with me but this is how I feel. I like my home bug free thank you very much. I dealt with too many bugs on my mission (Panama) to deal with them here. :)
I follow the policy similar to Don't ask Don't tell. Don't let me see you, I don't go looking for them. If they stumble across me though, they usually don't regret it as they are already smashed and the time for regrets has passed.
Hmmmm... good question. I have 2 conflicting beliefs about this question. The first one comes from Buddhism, where respect for any type of life trumps any sort of disgust that a person might have toward an organism. In this sense, I try not to kill anything if I can possibly help it. On the other hand, if a mosquito is biting me, I have a really hard time not squishing it into oblivion. This brings up a more Darwinistic belief that I hold, which is that animals die naturally every day and that I am a part of that. So, I don't feel any aversion to killing something in order to eat it, but I can't let it get out of hand. (That includes not being wasteful with fruits and veggies as well.)
I think this is the big debate that this course is mainly about, Who gets to decide what lives and dies, what resources we use and don't, and why people either have that power to decide or they don't. I remember reading in one of our articles that the scientists said that they should have the right to decide because they can see what is good as compared to people whe are less learned as they. I am sorry that I am going all religious on everyone but I truly believe that only God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and the universe, has any say on who gets to lead the human race.
I think we need to be aware of the consequences of our actions but I truly do struggle when people tell me that I have to live a certain way, especially if I feel like it is for their own personal agenda. I think in order for our lifestyle to be maintained, as well as our sanity, occasional killing of pests is necessary. But once aagain there is a consequence to overkilling and not knowing when to stop.
All of your comments made me laugh! This is an interesting topic because we all know what the good book says right. I will the Bible gave a better definition on what to kill and what not to kill. Buddism is pretty forward and absoulute but than again like Reina/Professor said mosquito need to die! I don't like the looks and sound of some insects like spiders or wasps. yuck! I do notice that with the greater of intelligence of an animal the more sorry I'am to see it in pain.
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