All Lives Have Equal Value -Tenzin Jambey

Inspired by reading the book at our Sunday School.

Shouldn't we treat all living beings equally? Don't you agree that animals, plants and insects deserve respect?

If you think that they should not, then tell me the reason for that. We, humans, are exploiting wildlife, hunting and poaching animals and trading their body and their body illegally for the sake of earthly things called "money". What harm have they done to us? For what reason are we hurting them? Shouldn't we care for the cow which gives us milk? Shouldn't we care and protect the forest that provides us with a source of living?

Plants, flowers, trees and grasses all have equal value in life. If we pluck or take them, they will die like us. We pluck their leaves, and they will get hurt like we get. If we love and care for them, they will grow like healthy human beings. 

We don't like plants and animals. And we feel like they shouldn't exist in this world. For example- Mosquitoes and weeds. Similarly, now place yourself in an animal or a plant like a goat and Sundari tree and ask yourself- 'Would you let a human live who is exploiting you for their means and for earning money? Ask this yourself twice, thrice and thousands of times. And you'll get the answer by yourself. Next time, before killing an insect or before harming a plant, you will think thrice.

At last, life is tough for everyone, whether rich or poor, animal or human. Sometimes we feel like becoming a bird or sometimes a butterfly. But they have their life challenges. 

If poor people think rich men live a luxurious life, he is wrong. It's the rich man's hard work day and night that the poor man didn't do, but we cannot blame the poor people for being poor. As I have told you before, life is tough for everyone. There can be many causes that led him to poverty.

Tenzin Jambey

Pestalozzi Children's Village, India.

Is it right to do mercy killing? - Rishona Chopra

Mercy killing is killing a person or animal to relieve their suffering. 

When fishermen fish, they bring the fish out of the water and kill it. When out of the water, it suffers, and we kill it to "relieve" it of its suffering. 

If an animal is wounded and in deep pain, we kill it to "relieve" it of its misery. 

I believe that there is simply no mercy in killing. Mercy killing should strictly only be done when a person or animal is in extreme pain and suffering and mentally accepts that it has to depart. 

 Imagine if you are sick and someone comes to you and says he/she is doing mercy to you by killing you. Does that even make any sense? If you are ready to leave all worldly desires and go, it would only seem alright to you.  

I think mercy killing, when done for no extreme reason, is straight away wrong. If you wish to "relieve" an animal's suffering and have such good intentions, why do you kill it anyway?

Most of the population depends on fishing. Fishing should be banned as why put a fish through so much pain. But that would also cause several issues. So, we can't do that, but there are humane ways to catch a fish. 

Even if we depend on animals to survive and we have to kill them, there are less painful ways to do so. 

You can learn more about this matter here: https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-euthanase-aquarium-fish/

I believe there is a difference between euthanasia and mercy killing, especially in India. Euthanasia is killing an animal when they are suffering from extreme illness, and the illness has NO CURE. And if they live any longer, it will hurt them all the more. But mercy killing, especially in India, is killing animals for our own advantage. 

You can see the proof here from an article from Hindustan Times:

There is another headline that says:

*This was back in 2017 and early 2018, but now mercy killing is banned.*

Even though it is banned, I believe that until 2017, mercy killing was allowed even for a mere reason like "space". Why not kill humans to make space for animals, then? I am sure they would need it. 

Each animal has there own rights, their own family, and their own life. Just in a second, it all ends for them. Why is care for humans, kindness towards humans and humility towards humans? Let us now show the same towards animals. 

Rishona Chopra
Grade VII
Gyanshree School