I’m going to say hard things today.
We all kill things. Directly, or indirectly.
I eat meat and plants. Both must be killed before I ingest them. This is true for most of us. One way or the other. But we do it for our own survival. Our physical need for food. Nonetheless, we have to kill something to eat.
But, even with my knowledge of this, I have to point out Idaho’s Fish and Game Commissioner. Blake Fischer is his name.
He took a hunting trip to Africa with his wife. And while he was there, he did some hunting. Then, after his “adventure” he sent an email to more than 100 friends and colleagues. In that little piece of correspondence, he recapped his trip. His hunting trip to Namibia. He swelled over his travels.
This guy, this Fischer guy, attached 12 pictures of himself and his wife standing over various kills. During their happy vacation, they shot and killed an oryx, a giraffe, a waterbuck, a leopard and, an entire family of baboons.
As if this wasn’t enough, these glimpses of his beloved vacation, he boasted about using the baboon kills to introduce his wife to African game hunting.
To quote: “First day she wanted to watch me, and ‘get a feel’ of Africa,” he wrote in the e-mail. “So I shot a whole family of baboons. I think she got the idea quick.”
After seeing this report this morning, I almost threw up.
I am so upset about this. Infuriated.
If he had done this for food, perhaps there could be a bit of justification. But he did this for pleasure.
For pleasure.
I know we are all different. But I cannot, CANNOT fathom the mentality behind this. To arm oneself. To go into someone’s home. And then, to hunt them down and kill them. While they are simply living their lives. Unarmed. Not harming anyone or anything. They were living.
And then, above and beyond this, to photograph oneself with the dead bodies of these individuals. Like this was some kind of major achievement? A noble act? Something photo-worthy?
I have known animals. I knelt by my Frances as she drew her last breath. I looked in her eyes and saw her understanding of the situation. I held her in my arms as she left this life. But there were a million moments before that one. The times when she amazed and astonished me with her understanding of life. With her ability to know peace. With her scope of comprehension. I’ve known a lot of animals. Their abilities, their qualities, are endless.
It infuriates me. This guy Fischer and his blatant disregard for the sanctity and blessedness life. This gift of life.
For anyone who does this. Who kills for pleasure. And then “poses” with their “kill.” I don’t want to know those people. My life is better without them.
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There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
― Albert Einstein
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“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein
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“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
― Albert Einstein
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