Am I a monster?

[jim_p]

Tuesday morning we're sitting on the front stoop getting our day started, when we're jolted out of our morning fog by an SUV coming to a sudden stop in the street. The SUV braked to avoid hitting one of the neighborhood cats. We soon discover what had overwhelmed the cat's attention and judgment; there was an injured bird under my car, which was parked in the street. The bird seemed to have a broken wing or somesuch...

At this point, Tam is all about helping the poor bird. I did not agree with this plan, since we already had plans for the day. More importantly, Tam has been repeatedly complaining about Not Having Time For Anything. Dealing with an injured bird would take precious time from the activities we had planned for the day. Nevertheless, she was consumed with compassion for the poor bird. She then crouched under my car while asking me to procure a broom or somesuch so that we could perhaps catch the imperiled creature. When I expressed reluctance at this plan, she snapped "Would you ABANDON this poor creature?" to which I shouted "YES!!"

Now I am not without compassion, but at the same time one must prioritize the usage of one's energies. Life, death, and predation are all parts of the natural order, cruel as it may be in its indifference.

I grudgingly complied with Tam's requests, helping her to catch the injured bird and then making a number of phone calls to determine what we could do with it (in the end, we connected with Tufts Wildlife Center, which would take the bird in if we could get it to them).

The question I'm wrestling with here is, am I a heartless bastard monster for even thinking of abandoning the poor bird to its fate? Am I that much less of a human being? Do I need to report to a re-education center for Compassion Indoctrination? I feel I was trying to be pragmatic with our limited energies and resources. Is this a Bad Thing? In the movies, of course, the strict, practical pragmatist eventually Sees The Light and proceeds to move heaven and earth to Do What Needs To Be Done. I have not been so moved. Does that make me a monster?

Comments

[lothie.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm sort of inconsistent. An injured kitten (say) I'd help; an injured bird, I'm not sure of. But a lot of that is because it's so much HARDER to help an injured bird, both in getting your hands on it and in getting it to someplace that will actually help.

I remember once a bird got caught in my engine and tried to free itself, pecking a hole in my radiator in the process and nearly resulting in my car being destroyed. My kids were SO upset to discover the perp, dead, under our car. Me, I wanted to kill it over again. No, you're not a monster...

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

that answer is one which has confounded people for millenia. I think it depends on many things, such as 1. how much time you feel you can make to deal with hurt critter, 2. how badly you feel about the critter (i.e. would you do it for a hurt snake or a hurt rat or raccoon?) 3. How hurt was it? was it likely to die really soon, and your helping will just stress it to the point of a heart attack? 4. other issues as well.
No i don't consider you a monster, but I also was not there and everyone has their priorities. I think since you found it, there's more of a will to help it. but you felt the time constraints.

Fate.

[marmota.livejournal.com]

"abandoning the poor bird to it's fate"? Why yes, that's exactly what I'd do. It's a wild bird in a natural setting and circumstance. Now if it were a pet with some sort of identifying tag, I'd intervene and contact it's owner... but the situation could just as easily be portrayed as "depriving that poor cat of it's lunch". I don't see one course of action as any more or less compassionate as the other, here.

[angelovernh.livejournal.com]

well, I would have probably tried to help the bird.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

species eat other species. it's the natural order of things. *shrug*

[tb]

I don't think you're a monster, but then again I don't believe in monsters. There are people who do vile things, but they're still human; humanity encompasses a huge range of behaviors, from "good" to "bad". In my view your response was far short of what is usually labeled as monstrous.

I've left some injured wild creatures to their fates, helped others, and put still others out of their misery, depending on circumstances and a whole host of subjective judgements on my part. Looks like your subjective judgements and Tam's were different in this case.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

You're not a monster, per se.

You were, however, interracting poorly with Tam.

The thing to do with the bird had you been alone would have been to ignore it or put it out of its misery and dispose of it. (Probably the best course, of action, other than simply moving it, because then cats wouldn't be interested in going into the road to check out the new toy.) That would have been the correct choice for you yourself.

However, the correct choice for Tam was obviusly something different. And as she had emotional attachment to the bird all of a sudden, (Yes, "Let's save it!" means that she was indeed attached to it and vetting some of herself into assuring that the bird had a good chance at life.), it largely behooved you to take her state into mind before allowing your inner monster out to run rampant upon the poor bird.

Hopefully this is making a bit of sense, at least.