Animals and Humans
It may be that some humans are negligent, but humans are regarded as “beastly,” whereas animals are being considered “better. ” Many ideas can lead up to these assumptions; many of these ideas can be disputed. Loyalty can be a huge leading cause to these assumptions. Animals (domestic) are almost always loyal and most humans can’t seem to be loyal if their life depended on it. Animals are not always better and humans aren’t always beastly, but that is how most people will see it. Animals are better than humans in some cases; mostly loyalty.
When one wins an animal’s loyalty, that animal is loyal always. Loyalty given is a precious commodity. One thing I do know is that a dog will teach a human what real loyalty is all about. There have been many stories about dogs waiting around for years after their master is deceased. The sound of a car pulling up in the driveway will send the dog’s ears perking up and their tails wagging; at least for a while. The dog will still always be awaiting their master, but when the dog realizes that their master is never coming home the animal will act differently; the dog acts depressed.
The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog. Loyalty is a very broad term which may be applicable in case of one’s family, locality or the country. A loyal person is ready to sacrifice even his own life for the sake of his master, friend, relative or the country. A loyal person bears a moral character, honest outlook, and disciplined manners. There are handfuls of loyal people in the world; loyalty forms the basis of human character. A truly loyal man cannot be bribed or tempted to deviate from his own path.
If there is ever a chance that an animal is not loyal, which there is, it’s likely because of neglect by an owner. The animal may have been beaten, or have been attacked by another animal; also, starvation which can be tied in with neglect. Neglect can cause damage to the animal and cause the animal to start trying to take care of itself, probably teaching itself to survive. Animals will do what they have to do to survive; if that means attacking and eating another animal for food, it will. Neglect and abandonment from a human cause’s animal to act disloyal, which I don’t think makes the animal bad, it is only trying to survive.
Humans are not very loyal whatsoever. For one to be loyal they must be completely strong and know what is right. It is difficult to find people like that anymore. People will do whatever they can to hurt someone. Some people will get close to someone just to steal something; or even to steal their friend. People confide in other people and tell them things, but not everyone will keep the person’s secrets to themselves like they promised. That’s called being disloyal and people commit it all of the time. Animals are considered beastly because they sometimes attack people and other animals.
A lot of times pit bulls are picked at as one of the most beastly dogs; from experience, they’re one of the best and loving animals. When an animal attacks a human being it is usually because the human is treating the animal badly. An animal just doesn’t walk around looking for a human to attack. Humans often do; they will want to fight someone so bad that they will go looking for that person. Humans are considered “beastly,” very unkind, malicious, and I can honestly say that I understand why. People are mean, cruel, hurtful, and they really just don’t care about other people’s feelings.
Humans can torture someone and be okay with it; backstab people without a care; lose trust in a matter of seconds; talk bad about their so called “best friend”; even lie straight to someone’s face. If that’s not considered beastly, then who knows what is. The worst thing a loyal animal could do to their master is play a little too rough or jump on one with mud on their paws. What do humans do when the dog bites or gets mud on their clothes? A human will smack the hell out of a dog. They leave the dog scared with their tail between their legs because the dog doesn’t know what they did wrong.
Of course, not everyone will treat their animal that way. Some animals are like the humans baby. These humans will not harm their animals or give the animal any reason to be scared, besides maybe stepping on them if the animal walks between their legs. Even though the dog gets stepped on it is not going to bite the hell out of their owner. Most humans will not go a day without food but they will force their animals in the backyard to starve. The animals have no choice but to starve unless they are going to eat dirt or the grass out back.
Humans can give animals their leftovers, but they usually don’t even give that a second thought. Differences between humans and animals are much more than language. Man has free will. Animals act on instinct. Animals do not have a sense of self, but humans do. Man has the ability to conceptualize; animals do not as evidenced time and time again. Man has sex for pleasure; animals do not with the exception of dolphins. This has been proven time and time again. Animals don’t murder out of lust or greed, but in defense of young and territory, and on instinct alone, not premeditation.
When humans get mad at each other they don’t blow it off like how two animals would. Humans hold the grudge for a long time, whereas, dogs don’t have that emotion. One minute the dogs are snarling at each other back and forth the next minute they are blowing in and out of their noses excitedly to play. When a human loves an animal it really is love, not love like for a spouse, but a genuine feeling. When the animal and human are apart for a while and they meet again both are filled with joy and happiness. This is a beautiful thing because so often it doesn’t happen like that.
You are able to see the excitement in the animal and the human. “Animals can give that almost human look” like Alice Walker explains in her essay, “Am I Blue? ”. Animals and humans will always have huge differences, because they aren’t the same. Being a human does not give you the right to be beastly. Humans are expected to be good, while animals are expected to be beastly because they’re animals. It has come to my attention that it is quite the opposite and I’m sure that’s not the way that things are supposed to be, but it will forever remain that way. We children were always warned not to harm the frogs or the toads. ” (Silko 380) The old time people told their children that, yet now in this day, there are worse things going on like the beating and neglect of animals by the beastly humans.
Works Cited
- Silko, Leslie Marmon. “Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit. ” The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues across the Disciplines.
- Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 11th ed. New York: 2011. McGraw- Hill, 2011. 375-382. Print. Walker, Alice. “Am I Blue? ” The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues across the Disciplines.
- Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. 11th ed. New York: 2011. McGraw-Hill, 2011. 756-761. Print.
