Humanity

To follow up my last post on irreligion, this one's about humanitarian spiritualism (that's quite a mouthful). Well, in short, that means humanity to me. As you all know by now that religion is not really my cup of tea (or coffee, for that matter), I have no interest in serving God. Does that mean I'm going towards a wayward life with no guiding light?

Honey - our first foster girl

No, not that.

My idea is to have humanity and serve others. Not to secure a place in Heaven, nor to have a better life in your next birth, but to let you give back something to the society, to the world that has given you so much. It comes out of gratitude, not from arrogance. You give not to show, but to serve.

May - the pretty lady

Some people think that we should prioritize helping people over helping animals. I don't feel so. Humans at least can fend for themselves but animals can't speak out. So, like ASPCA says - "we are their voice", we have to help them. I'm never saying we don't need to care for people, but that shouldn't come at the cost of not caring for other animals. I am absolutely certain that by no means my friends, who are going to read this article would indulge in abusing animals. However, there are ways by which we unknowingly do support illegal breeders or other unethical practices that harm animals. Please, please do consider adopting your new pet instead of buying him from a pet shop. By buying animals people not only downgrade those precious lives to mere commodities, but also indulge backyard breeders who run puppy mills. There dogs are forcefully made to breed so that they turn out to "produce" puppies like stuff from mills. ASPCA and the Humane Society are trying real hard to stop this and we need to do our best to help that.

If you have pets, do spay/neuter them. Animals don't have any mental connection to having babies so spaying/neutering them is the best thing we can do to stop having unwanted litters (most of them end up at shelters, or die without proper care) and also not having our resident pet contract diseases by mating with feral cats and other animals.

There are many ways to help animals. If you have some spare time, try to volunteer at a nearby shelter. Or if you have the means, you can foster an animal that needs care or just needs a break from shelter life. When we brought May from the Seattle Humane Society she was so happy to get out of that cramped cage (with her food dish, litter box and cat bed all within inches from one another) to a room just for herself - with plush blankets, a window seat and catnip toys! She is a happy girl now, getting healthy fast with an active lifestyle :-)

It's not just about your pets, but other animals are in need of love and care as well. If you hang a birdfeeder you'll see how many tiny birds would come to your yard. We have hummingbirds and blue jays and a lot more whom I don't really know come and peck at the nuts and sunflower seeds we put out for them. A friend of mine took great pains to save baby hummingbirds from falling out of their nest when there was a strong wind blowing. I am yet to see the squirrels in our yard but I know they are frequent visitors because the corn degenerates to just the cob really fast!

Cuddly furry cub

Momma's boy

The world is so beautiful because we all live together in here. Can you imagine a forest with no Royal Bengal tigers, or the Arctic Polar Cap with no furry Polar bear walking with two fluffy cubs in tow? In the same way I don't want to have a house where there's no furry friend waiting for me or a garden where birds don't come chirping in....

Taking care of animals is not so difficult, it only needs a lot of love...they realize it when you love them, it makes them feel good...and you'll see that in their eyes...