I like a good story too, but the administrators of this site need to edit the content better. The only act of compassion in this video is the lady who gives the bag of food to the dog! Kudos to her!
(As the video stated) the dog is "very hungry" so that is why she goes off looking for food. Dogs are descendant from wolves who (both dogs and wolves) cannot survive for long on their own. That is why they are pack animals. It is also the part of human / dog socialization that we have in common (humans are pack animals too).
A wolf in the wild who alone kills a small animal will eat its fill and then carry the rest back to the pack. This behaviour is instinctual, not compassionate. You may say 'how do you know?' and this is a fair question. All animals only serve self and have never been observed helping others without some self serving ends.* The dog who brings back food to share is fulfilling her instinct to take care of the pack. This is innately self serving, because their life relies on the strength of the pack. It is their defence (in the wild) against formidable foes (like bears and cougars); and is the only way they can catch, kill, and eat a larger animal.
[*The only exception I have ever read about is dolphins, who researchers studying them have equated their intelligence to humans and who (the code is yet to be cracked) are able to communicate with each other with the tones of their "clicking". Yes, dolphins have saved people from drowning, pulling them to shore. Is this compassion, or as an equally intelligent creature, they simply realize it will benefit the dolphin race to be nice to the human race? (It is a fact that these acts of dolphin heroics is what brought dolphins into the spotlight and led to humans banning tuna fishing with huge nets that dolphins became trapped and killed in.) Without the dolphin to human behaviour, we'd still think of them as fish (they are mammals) and eat them too!]
This story of the dog has been anthropomorphized to serve an agenda: To present the dog as compassionate when it is not. Only humans have the ability for compassion which by definition means to do or feel something that has no route in benefit to self. If a person does something kind because it makes them feel good; yes it is a kind act, but it is self-serving (to feel good) not compassionate. True compassion is to help another as the motivator, without concern for self. This is extremely rare. Things are not all or nothing; a bit of both is a nice balance. Study of spiritual and or mystical teachings will explain this better.
The human being is like no other creature on this earth. To say otherwise is simple fantasy. We are spiritual beings who exist in a body. We are not a body with a soul, we are a soul with a body. Please take a minute to think about the difference,
The uniqueness of the human has the potential for enormous good or enormous bad; whereas the animal can only operate upon its innate programming, it cannot change its nature (in an individual's lifetime). The human CAN change his/her nature if they want to. It is not easy, our innate responses take a lot of work to override, but it can be done. That is what this site needs to focus on. On unique and inspiring stories of humans acting for the better, and against the innate animal selfish instincts.
It says (in the written into) that "animals teach us so much"; what may that be??? It stated that "we have completely destroyed their world to support our greed". Last time I checked the world is still here. Yes, there is much that needs to be fixed, but the world is far from "completely destroyed". Equally important is that it is the actions of a few that have caused the damage, to say that it's "we..." is unfair to the common person. Yes, we need as individuals to do more, but to put the blame on the common person for the state of the world is not only unfair, but does nothing to provoke change. It is very important to not take the weight of the world on your shoulders. If you do you will be overwhelmed and become unhappy and do nothing to help. It is a common trick of the forces of destruction to overwhelm you, as to bring you down and become distracted from doing what you are able to do.
How about a list of suggestions of what the common person can help with, instead of distortion of truth and hyperbole! We have enormous potential to break out of our innate selfish animal programming. To venerate animals is the opposite of what we need to do. Compassion and ethical treatment of animals, absolutely; but to rise above our animal self, not to want to be like the animals, is the only thing that will allow us to persevere in the long run.
On Oct 30, 2014 David on a Journey wrote:
I like a good story too, but the administrators of this site need to edit the content better. The only act of compassion in this video is the lady who gives the bag of food to the dog! Kudos to her!
(As the video stated) the dog is "very hungry" so that is why she goes off looking for food. Dogs are descendant from wolves who (both dogs and wolves) cannot survive for long on their own. That is why they are pack animals. It is also the part of human / dog socialization that we have in common (humans are pack animals too).
A wolf in the wild who alone kills a small animal will eat its fill and then carry the rest back to the pack. This behaviour is instinctual, not compassionate. You may say 'how do you know?' and this is a fair question. All animals only serve self and have never been observed helping others without some self serving ends.* The dog who brings back food to share is fulfilling her instinct to take care of the pack. This is innately self serving, because their life relies on the strength of the pack. It is their defence (in the wild) against formidable foes (like bears and cougars); and is the only way they can catch, kill, and eat a larger animal.
[*The only exception I have ever read about is dolphins, who researchers studying them have equated their intelligence to humans and who (the code is yet to be cracked) are able to communicate with each other with the tones of their "clicking". Yes, dolphins have saved people from drowning, pulling them to shore. Is this compassion, or as an equally intelligent creature, they simply realize it will benefit the dolphin race to be nice to the human race? (It is a fact that these acts of dolphin heroics is what brought dolphins into the spotlight and led to humans banning tuna fishing with huge nets that dolphins became trapped and killed in.) Without the dolphin to human behaviour, we'd still think of them as fish (they are mammals) and eat them too!]
This story of the dog has been anthropomorphized to serve an agenda: To present the dog as compassionate when it is not. Only humans have the ability for compassion which by definition means to do or feel something that has no route in benefit to self. If a person does something kind because it makes them feel good; yes it is a kind act, but it is self-serving (to feel good) not compassionate. True compassion is to help another as the motivator, without concern for self. This is extremely rare. Things are not all or nothing; a bit of both is a nice balance. Study of spiritual and or mystical teachings will explain this better.
The human being is like no other creature on this earth. To say otherwise is simple fantasy. We are spiritual beings who exist in a body. We are not a body with a soul, we are a soul with a body. Please take a minute to think about the difference,
The uniqueness of the human has the potential for enormous good or enormous bad; whereas the animal can only operate upon its innate programming, it cannot change its nature (in an individual's lifetime). The human CAN change his/her nature if they want to. It is not easy, our innate responses take a lot of work to override, but it can be done. That is what this site needs to focus on. On unique and inspiring stories of humans acting for the better, and against the innate animal selfish instincts.
It says (in the written into) that "animals teach us so much"; what may that be??? It stated that "we have completely destroyed their world to support our greed". Last time I checked the world is still here. Yes, there is much that needs to be fixed, but the world is far from "completely destroyed". Equally important is that it is the actions of a few that have caused the damage, to say that it's "we..." is unfair to the common person. Yes, we need as individuals to do more, but to put the blame on the common person for the state of the world is not only unfair, but does nothing to provoke change. It is very important to not take the weight of the world on your shoulders. If you do you will be overwhelmed and become unhappy and do nothing to help. It is a common trick of the forces of destruction to overwhelm you, as to bring you down and become distracted from doing what you are able to do.
How about a list of suggestions of what the common person can help with, instead of distortion of truth and hyperbole! We have enormous potential to break out of our innate selfish animal programming. To venerate animals is the opposite of what we need to do. Compassion and ethical treatment of animals, absolutely; but to rise above our animal self, not to want to be like the animals, is the only thing that will allow us to persevere in the long run.