Millstream

We caught crawdads and sculpins in big white nets while squishing clams and mussels between our toes. We shouted as we found new specimens and laughed as we threw them into the aquarium. We even caught a dead crawdad and threw it in with the rest. None of it seemed strange till I was thinking later about how different we perceive animals to ourselves. I definitely feel that it is important to learn about other creatures because then we gain a desire to understand them and help their existence. However, it did seem kind of disconcerting how while gathering information about these creatures, we hardly considered their well-being. We played with them like toys. I feel it sheds light on our generally egocentric selves. We seem to care more about animals that appear more like ourselves. While holding a strange spidery looking crawdad, we hardly see any similarities to ourselves so we have no problem throwing it into a glass case. But if it was a mouse we might think a little differently about pulling it apart to understand its digestive system. And if it was a monkey, one of the most similar animal species to humans, most of us would definitely oppose to killing and dissecting it. I'm not saying we should not explore the wilderness and the animals and insects that it houses, I just find people have very strange ways of categorizing what is acceptable in their mind. If we are going to brutally kill a fish, why would we treat a dog any differently? It seems to me that we all are about the same we just have different external shells or containers. Who are we to judge which animals we can do this to and which animals we can't. Is it merely because some animals are vague representations of ourselves and we are uncomfortable treating a symbol of ourselves in such a barbaric way? If so, how can we reconcile our own egocentric tendencies?