Why are people so awful?
A few days ago, I was reading the news on one of the few pseudo news-sites I visit regularly (CNN.com) and came across an article that broke a streak of what was otherwise a few good days in a row without bad news.
A man in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, caught a mouse in his home and wanted to get rid of the mouse. Now, at my parents’ home North of the river, I’ve caught a few mice before, and I’ve always done what I thought was the proper action. After catching the mouse in a non-lethal trap, I take the trap up to the lake, find a culvert with some tall grass, and release the mouse with the hopes that it will start a new life in its new location.
This fellow in New Mexico, however, wasn’t quite as considerate. Instead of doing something as humane, he thought to himself, "Well, heck. I’ve got a pile of leaves outside I’m going to go burn, and I’ve got a mouse to get rid of... Why don’t I just put the mouse on top of the leaves and burn them both together?"
I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in. Without any apparent trouble from his conscience, this man took a living being - a being scientists have discovered has memories, emotions, fears, plans for the future (albeit short term future), and quite importantly, feels pain - and he decided to burn it alive.
Maybe I’m more sensitive about the issue of burnings than other people are, but I sincerely hope that I am not alone in my horror at what this man decided was appropriate. Being burned alive must be an absolutely horrible way to die, and this man without a second thought took a being capable of feeling the entirety of the experience in the same way as would a human infant, and condemned that living thing to excruciating pain, terror, and confusion. And don’t gloss over how awful that would be. Hair would burn, skin would char, and blood would boil away before the mouse was burned to death.
In what seems to me to be not quite a fitting enough (but close) punishment, something intervened. Fate, nature, chance, the hand of God... Call it what you will, but the story did not end with the mouse in the flames.
After the mouse caught on fire, it leapt out of the pile of leaves and ran, still on fire, back into the man’s house, and tried to hide underneath a window. The still-burning mouse, as it died (most likely), caught the man’s house on fire and burned it to the ground. The house and everything inside was completely destroyed.
A mouse doesn’t have a lot of weapons to fight against wanton cruelty. It cannot gnash its terrible teeth or roar its terrible roar (brownie points to anyone who can identify where that came from...). This mouse fought back in the only way it could, and if there is a heaven, I hope this mouse made it there.
It may not be a victory of self-defense, but if you can’t take your attacker with you, do as much damage to him as you can.
In memory of the poor mouse, R.I.P.
A man in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, caught a mouse in his home and wanted to get rid of the mouse. Now, at my parents’ home North of the river, I’ve caught a few mice before, and I’ve always done what I thought was the proper action. After catching the mouse in a non-lethal trap, I take the trap up to the lake, find a culvert with some tall grass, and release the mouse with the hopes that it will start a new life in its new location.
This fellow in New Mexico, however, wasn’t quite as considerate. Instead of doing something as humane, he thought to himself, "Well, heck. I’ve got a pile of leaves outside I’m going to go burn, and I’ve got a mouse to get rid of... Why don’t I just put the mouse on top of the leaves and burn them both together?"
I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in. Without any apparent trouble from his conscience, this man took a living being - a being scientists have discovered has memories, emotions, fears, plans for the future (albeit short term future), and quite importantly, feels pain - and he decided to burn it alive.
Maybe I’m more sensitive about the issue of burnings than other people are, but I sincerely hope that I am not alone in my horror at what this man decided was appropriate. Being burned alive must be an absolutely horrible way to die, and this man without a second thought took a being capable of feeling the entirety of the experience in the same way as would a human infant, and condemned that living thing to excruciating pain, terror, and confusion. And don’t gloss over how awful that would be. Hair would burn, skin would char, and blood would boil away before the mouse was burned to death.
In what seems to me to be not quite a fitting enough (but close) punishment, something intervened. Fate, nature, chance, the hand of God... Call it what you will, but the story did not end with the mouse in the flames.
After the mouse caught on fire, it leapt out of the pile of leaves and ran, still on fire, back into the man’s house, and tried to hide underneath a window. The still-burning mouse, as it died (most likely), caught the man’s house on fire and burned it to the ground. The house and everything inside was completely destroyed.
A mouse doesn’t have a lot of weapons to fight against wanton cruelty. It cannot gnash its terrible teeth or roar its terrible roar (brownie points to anyone who can identify where that came from...). This mouse fought back in the only way it could, and if there is a heaven, I hope this mouse made it there.
It may not be a victory of self-defense, but if you can’t take your attacker with you, do as much damage to him as you can.
In memory of the poor mouse, R.I.P.
posted by The Academian | 2:49 PM
2 Comments:
Being burned alive sucks. I never thought about the blood boiling though. Thanks Acadameian for that pleasant image.
"The Academian - Doing his best to put scary places in your mind since 2005"
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