Today, my friend's cat died and I read a great deal about the difficulty of rooting oak cuttings. The cat was not in good shape. It died all on its own. Conventional wisdom is that you put cats down. I doubt most people could articulate this, but the idea derives from the tradition that not being sentient, not having a soul, animals suffering is meaningless (they can't offer it as a sacrifice to God), and so there is no reason for them to endure it. I understand the thought, but it always felt too tidy, hollow, a religious scrim around the philosophy of a materialist who is going to try and sell you a casket, a headstone and likely a bigger and better cat tomorrow. The day after his more secular cousin will be selling the same story about you to your next of kin. I intend to poke him in the eye with my last breath. RIP Cripps.
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When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth.
Psalm 8
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