“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind—Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? —Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?” (Job 38:1,18,33)
These questions were put to the prophet Job when he asked God why he had to suffer so much. Of course Job had no response to the Lord. These were unanswerable—far too profound for the limited mind of any human being. God used sarcasm to meet the prophet’s audacity for questioning the ways of the almighty Lord. Today, with the exciting discoveries of modern astronomy, mankind is drawing near to solving those problems. I thought of Job while visiting the Arecibo observatory in Puerto Rico. It’s a concave 1,000 diameter wide dish set up to receive waves from the universe beyond. Scientists are seeking to communicate with extra-terrestrial intelligence. It’s just a matter of time until such instruments will locate life beyond our own. Many of us may live to learn of that splendid break-through of communication. Telescopes like the Hubble freed from the distortions of our earth’s atmosphere enlighten us with insights as to the origin of the cosmos and its swift expansion. Even now we are fascinated by the ongoing search for evidence of what may have been life on Mars, with the moving vehicles that traverse the plant sending back photos from the modules on that planet. It’s an exciting time to be alive.
I doubt, however, that I shall live to experience the more mundane, yet more significant understanding and communication with the varieties of higher animals that live on this planet. Some scientists do struggle to comprehend the languages of ocean and land animals. Nevertheless, most of humanity is only concerned with utilizing and exploiting the animal kingdom. Modern technology has advanced to the point where we no longer use animals as beasts of burden as in the past, but we remain ignorant of the abusive ways we treat animal life.
Can we not recognize how deleterious our abuse of the oceans is to the whales, confusing their senses so that they plow into the beaches and die? Dolphins and elephants are among the most intelligent of non-human life forms, but they are used only to amuse and entertain us. They are taken from their natural settings and trained to perform, as though that were of some benefit to them. Worse by far is the treatment given to apes and gorillas, which are removed from their natural habitats and made to live as prisoners given life sentences. They remain behind bars so that human beings can pass by and gawk. At least now in this new millennium several zoos are beginning to realize that we have been inconsiderate of their best well-being and downright cruel to many animals, and are taking measures to rectify the injustice.
Dog and cat lovers are aware that they are not as fair and reliable to their pets as the animals are to their “masters.” We seem to be able to abuse dogs without remorse in ways that the creatures would never reciprocate. Dogs have a calming effect on even the emotionally disturbed and the elderly relegated to a boring existence. Their lives are enhanced by contact with animals. Most animals need so little attention, yet they respond with an abundance of affection just for a little stroking and eye contact. Consider how birds bring cheer to a room.
I fear that not even my grandchildren will live to witness humane treatment granted to steers. Far in the future humans will end the brutal, cruel way that they are slaughtered. A time will come to improve the lives of the chickens whose brief days of existence are spent without natural sunlight or exercise, standing or squatting on grills so that their meat will remain tender.
And when it happens that we earthlings will establish communication with extra-terrestrial visitors, how will they measure us, and what will they think of the manner in which we treat the various forms of life as well as the flora that share our planet with us? Will they be revolted at the way we exploit, ignore and abuse those forms of life that live among us?