I had always wondered what is the value of a life. I see videos of people against killing of animals. Killing for meat, killing for fur. Don's eat in KFC, McDonalds. All sorts of stuff. I understand that they mean that all living being needs a place to live. Die with dignity.
Now lets take a scenario. A cow is squashed between two huge tucks. Blood splashes out. It is left to nothing more than scoops of meat and blood. I know it is not something anyone want to do. Seriously, it is bad. The cow has feeling. It can feel pain as we do. It has to be stunned before it can be cut. Or at least there are ways we can end the life according to other norms.
Now let us think of yet another scenario. A tiny sweet rascal bites you. Sucks your blood out. All it can leave behind can be a itch. Or worst, a fever. And what do we do. Just give it a gentle pat. And, in this case again, blood splashes. it is left to dirt. Just wipe it off and it is business as usual. So, the life of a mosquito is nothing. And it does not feel pain. Leave alone stunning it before killing it.
This is my view.
Compare killing a Man, Elephant, Leopard, Tiger, Lion, Deer, Dog, Cat, Goat, Hen, Fish, Snake, Mosquito, Ant, Micro-organisms (That can die just with our breath). Mostly, the feel would reduce down the order. The last would not even have a place on our sympathy list. Does it mean it has no life and it has no value?????
Does life has a value. Of how important it is to us determine its value. Or the value is based on what it is to us when it dies. Or how we see it suffers when it dies. Or how gruesome it is when we see it dies. Or if it is on our endangered list.
I had this thought right from when I was young. Once we had made a scene out of this during a play we performed. A person shoots a Tiger and gets caught and is in Jail. In the jail, he sees a snake in his cell. He is scared but does not kill it. He jumps around to escape, still does not kill. The cops shout to him to kill the snake. He says he is in the jail for killing the Tiger, and does not want to worsen things by killing a snake. The cops say, the Tiger is a endangered species. You cannot kill it. Snake is not on the endangered list yet, you can kill it. So it is not the life that matters. It really matters if it is on the endangered list or not.
What is the value of a life? Is it equal or ???
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