(Non-Human) Animal Awareness

Ever since we talked about Elizabeth Costello I could not take my mind off of the idea of how we humans lack sympathy towards animals. I’ll admit, when I took the Elizabeth Costello challenge, I forgot within two days that I was supposed to be thinking about Elizabeth Costello’s ideas. After the we talked about the challenge, I could not stop thinking about her ideas. Last Wednesday I went to the Southern California for my sister’s high school graduation. Since it’s late May, most of my old high school friends are coming back from their respective universities and came back home for the summer. I took this opportunity to have a discussion about various topics with my friends. Eventually, we talked about the music industry and how people will do anything in their power to gain what they want. I told my friends about Elizabeth Costello and how she felt unsafe in a world where people will kill and eat (non-human) animals, creatures with feelings and emotions, without any remorse. My friends are very open to discussion and they had comments like “wow, I’ve never thought about that” or “that is so true”. Before I knew it, my friends were talking about how they felt a little unsafe now, because only one can imagine what humans will do in order to gain what they want without taking into account that most things that are living have a consciousness. This class has opened my eyes to different perspective that I would never imagine thinking about, and that’s the best thing I’ve gotten from this course. I am now aware of these issues revolving (non-human) animals and I feel like the best thing I have taken from this course is that people need to be aware of the things that happen to animals.