Earlier this month, news broke out of a video gone viral showing three girls crushing a puppy to death. Of course, the reaction was instantaneous. Some vilified the girls while others called for a manhunt. Others also called for draconian measures to punish the girls.
My reaction, although the same, is not that strong. Perhaps it's because I'm also guilty of my own acts of animal cruelty when I was growing up. I guess we all are in varying degrees.
One memory that stands out was when we cooked a house lizard for fun. My playmates and I were daring one neighbor kid to eat the lizard (he didn't). That's why we did the deed.
Another memory was when one of our puppies was close to death and was very lethargic in its movements. I 'tried' to coax him back to action by rolling him across the garage floor.
In sum, I was also guilty of causing hurt and pain, the essence of being cruel. But one redeeming factor for me was that I learned quite early this life lesson: that it is never right to inflict pain and suffering to anyone or to anything.
I believe all of us go through this stage, the point in life where we become cruel without realizing that we are. I don't know how this comes about. Some may trace it to faulty parenting or peer influence. But we do grow up and when we do, we realize our errors.
The tragedy here then belongs to those people whose callousness borders on the inhumane, whose ignorance has given way to tolerance and sadistic delight.
Am I angry at these girls? Obviously, yes. But I also pity them for what they have become.
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