The Desire to Live "‘Stop!' screamed Wilbur. ‘I don't want to die! Save me, somebody! Save me!...Wilbur burst into tears. ‘I don't want to die,' he moaned. ‘I want to stay alive, right here in my comfortable manure pile with all my friends. I want to breathe the beautiful air and lie in the beautiful sun.'" E. B. White, Charlotte's Web   There are two African grey parrots named Alex and Griffin who do more than mimic, they have proven that they can actually understand what they are saying. When shown triangles, each of a different color, and asked about the difference between them, Alex will answer, "Color." When asked what is the same he will say, "Shape." He also understands the concept of nothing. When two objects are identical and he is asked what is different, he says, "Nothing." They also learn and correctly use words that have not been systematically taught them. Once when Griffin was having difficulty pronouncing a new word, Alex turned to him and said, "Speak clearly," a phrase he had not been taught, yet he used it appropriately! 1   They are also learning phonics. One day while demonstrating his abilities, Irene, his caretaker, kept putting off giving him a nut. Finally, in exasperation, Alex said, "Want a nut. Nnn-Uh-Tuh," as if to say, "You idiot! Do I have to spell it out for you?" They had not taught him to put the letter sounds together yet. He had completely shot past them! Maybe the question now isn't "Polly want a cracker?" but "Polly want a Ph.D.?" 2 One day Irene took Alex to the veterinarian for lung surgery. As she started to leave he called, "Come here! I love you! I'm sorry. I want to go back!" He thought that he had done something wrong and was being punished by being left behind.   Wouldn't it be interesting if other animals could express their thoughts and feelings in words that we could understand, as Alex did? What if a sheep, pig or cow cried out, "Please don't kill me!" just prior to being slaughtered? Or just as the hunter raised his gun, the deer looked into his eyes and said, "I want to live, please don't shoot me"? 3   All animals fear and dread death. None of them want to die! This fear alone can and will kill them. Many animals bolt at the anguished cries of others ahead of them being slaughtered; all struggle, trying to free themselves from their nightmarish surroundings. 4 They scream, bleat, cry, moan, groan, each in their own way expressing their fear, pain and desire to live, but sadly their pleas seem to fall on deaf ears and hardened hearts. Just because animals are weaker, more vulnerable, and cannot usually express themselves as we do, are we justified in exploiting them by eating their bodies? If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it? And He that keepeth thy soul, doth He not know it? And shall not He render to every man according to his works Proverbs 24:11,12? A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread... Proverbs 12:10,11. (Emphasis supplied)   God is waiting for His character to be perfectly reproduced in us as His followers, so that He can take us home to heaven. 5 If we cannot live at peace with man and beast here, how can God trust us in Heaven?   There were animals in Eden, and there will be animals in the earth made new (Isaiah 65:17,25).Unless those who have practiced cruelty to God's creatures here overcome this disposition and become like the kind and merciful Jesus, who spent His life relieving the needs, emotional and physical, of those around, whether human or animal, they will never share in the inheritance of the righteous. Were they to have the opportunity of entering heaven they would act no different toward people or the animals there than they did here on earth. 6   I love this quote from Abraham Lincoln, and it is most apropos for our discussion. "I care not for a man's religion whose dog or cat are not the better for it."   I think we would be safe to include all animals in his statement, because how we treat God's creatures directly reveals by whose spirit we are being controlled. It is because of our sin that animals suffer, and indeed the reason that "...the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together" Romans 8:22. It behooves us then to do all in our power to seek to lighten their suffering, and bring relief from the pain and fear brought on by our disobedience to God's laws. All rights reserved Copyright © 2006 By J. Lee