A reason I love humans
So today at my Place of Work, there was a couple who were in a sad way, because they had just put down their dog of 12 years. Anyone who has lost an animal companion knows the pain that can bring. Biking home tonight, I was thinking about them, and then got to thinking about my cat Spud, and thought about the fact that he will sometime die, and bam. The tears were coming, and they were for him, and me, and that couple and their poor dog.
Imagination is what powers that amazing social ability of ours: empathy. It is the thing that lets us glimpse another’s pain or joy and feel it ourselves. Evolution imparted this amazing ability to us — probably from the utility for navigating the complex hierarchies of primates — and it’s become something so much more. That, my friends, is wicked cool.
All I can say, though, is that Spud better stick around for a good few years yet.
Haha, I seem to be thinking about most of what you post right now, cause I was reading about empathy in Daniel Goleman’s Social Intelligence this morning. Empathy is awesome. I hope my cat Xander sticks around for a while though too.
Animal companion became a huge part of my life some ten years ago when I moved away from my family’s. Sometimes I have the feeling people can be more empathic to others when it comes to animals than to other humans. Perhaps because losing a pet is something most people experience sooner in life. I started thinking about my cats after reading your post, too. Hope they get to be around for a long time…
Yeah on the empathy thing — in general, I think our relationships with other animals helps us be more human.