Be reconciled

I was still a bit rattled on my way to church this morning. I was burdened by the feeling of shame that came from two dreams in which I did something untoward. Even though those were just what happened in dreams, the fact that dreams are a manifestation of our subconscious mind means that they reflect what hidden intents and desires we have.

As I carried this feeling to the church, the central theme of the readings today, that of reconciliation, conveyed a special meaning. For 'shame' is one of the things that our reconciliation with God should help banish, along with 'reproach' (Joshua 5), 'fears' (Psalm 23), 'trespasses' (2 Corinthians 5), 'dissipation' and 'sin' (Luke 15). God, our Father in Heaven, is ever so kind that he will forgive us and embrace us as the father in the parable of the prodigal son told by Jesus in the Gospel today. All it takes is for us to repent and pray for forgiveness.

As Paul told us in 2 Corinthians 5, "...on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him."

Different stories, same fate

In the last couple of days there were two pieces of news about zoo animals with very different fortunes.

The first one was about the birth of a baby elephant which was thought and 'confirmed' to have died in the womb during the six-day labour. The male calf was trapped in a position from which a live birth was thought to be impossible and ultrasound appeared to confirm the diagnosis. The complete absence of any vital signs during all the checks and examinations made this survival story a 'miracle'. The baby elephant has taken its first steps.

The second news story is more depressing. Eleven Siberian tigers have died at a zoo in Liaoning, China over the past three months. There are discrepancies about how they died. While a manager at the zoo said the tigers simply died of various diseases, a local wildlife protection official said that malnutrition was one cause. Whatever the reason, the case raises questions about how zoo animals are treated in China.

While the two news items convey contrasting sentiments, what lies behind them is the sad fact that majestic wild animals like elephants and tigers are reduced to a life in captivity. Only about 50, or one percent, of the 5,000 tigers in China are left in the wild. The loss of their natural habitat and human poaching have driven many wild animals to the verge of extinction and a captive life may well be the only way to preserve them. But it is sad to see these regal animals which not so long ago still roamed and ruled the land now being forced to live an undignified life in cages where movement is restricted and disease is rampant. It may not be long before we can only have wild animals in zoos but not in the wild anymore.

Babes

Haiku

lots and lots of leaves
alive and green, dead and brown

i am a leaf too

Noise pollution at its worst

While having a haircut this evening, I overheard the conversation at the next cubicle. I was not evasdropping. The female stylist and the male customer spoke so loudly that it was impossible not to hear what they said. And they didn't care at all too. For half an hour, they just babbled in a way that they must have thought were funny, cute, clever and fashionable. The conversation was so contrived, flippant, pretentious, shallow and devoid of meaning that I could hardly believe that it was between two cognisant human beings. I was completely disgusted at having to be forced to listen to a load of rubbish like that.

I was thinking that the only other place in which such a silly and mindless conversation could take place was between the PR at a nightclub and the client.

Was there really a choice?

It is natural to clench your teeth or even your fists when you learn about such preposterous cases of animal abuse as chopping off the paws of kittens and then leaving them to perish. And justifiably so too. No man in his right mind would contemplate such a thing, not to say to do it, and he deserves to be condemned.

However, while not trying to give the coward any excuse (and there really isn't any), I do wish to make the point that it may be worth asking what sort of childhood experience could have turned the person into what he or she is now. I simply cannot accept the argument that he (might even be a she) is what he is because he is born with such an evil character. I believe that what makes us what we are is a combination of nature and nurture. We do have our inborn character traits, but we are also very much moulded into our present selves by powerful social influences. So just as child abusers invariably have a childhood history of having been abused by their parents, animal abusers also almost certainly have had traumatic experiences that transformed them into the 'monsters' they are now.

I believe that in some extremely depressing cases the pain or torture in the childhood was so severe that it didn't even leave the sufferer with the choice of how he (again it might be a she) would face it or what kind of person he would like to become in the future. Without a glimmer of hope, radically twisting their outlook of life was the only way to save himself from completely falling apart. Such cases are truly tragic.

But I also believe that in other less extreme cases it is still possible for the victims to choose whether to let the abuse go on through them or dare to try to break the spell. That courage to pick up the pieces is what makes the difference between a healed life and a dark life. As Ernest Hemingway said, "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places."

Life is not blue for Blue Blue

Prompted by the most recent cold-blooded animal abuse case in which a stray cat was tortured by having its front paw cut off, over fifty animal lovers and activists staged a rally last Saturday in the district where several similar cases have happened in the last three years, to protest against the inability of the police to crack down on such cases.

One of the demonstrators was the owner of a cat that survived such a torture two and a half years ago. Blue Blue was only one month old when her rear paws were chopped off. When I saw the misery in the blue eyes of the kitten in a photo taken after the tragedy happened, I just cried. I couldn't understand how someone could do a thing like that to such an innocent and helpless young life. Looking at that photo, I felt utterly guilty for us humans to have brought so much suffering to animals.

Thanks to the kind volunteer who adopted her, Blue Blue has survived and grown to be a beautiful young feline. She will be handicapped for life of course. According to her owner, she is annoyed to see other cats jumping around. She would also bite when someone tries to touch her feet - a telltale sign of what a traumatic experience the torture must have been for her. She may not be as mobile as other cats for the rest of her life, but at least she will be under the loving care of her owner. It is hoped that kindness like that will go some way towards redeeming the sins of the humankind.