Star Fish

We had to dissect a starfish in my Biology lab the other day and, well, dissection in general bothers me to a high degree. I can’t say I’m squeamish, as it’s not the gore that bothers me. I remember watching a dissection of a beaver as a kid, and it didn’t bother me a bit. It’s the idea of killing an animal for curiosity that really bugs me. I don’t see the necessity of this animal dying, just so I can get a peak inside its body, especially when a picture would be just as, if not more, effective.

So, I was trying to verbalize this feeling to a classmate who was actually listening (as in, was interested in what I was saying, not just smiling & nodding. If she was doing that, I would have shut up sooner) and another classmate of mine, a kid, really, says that we have the right to kill and dissect these animals (we’re doing rats & quails later, sigh) because we are more intelligent. This really bothered me (made me spitting mad, really), but of course, I couldn’t put a definite reason as to why.

Well, I figured it out. I was listening to Canada Live to Nathan Rogers sing a song about the Heron Indians, and the horrors done to them in the name of good intentions. When the British and French got to Canada, they saw the Indians and saw people that lived much simpler than them and automatically thought that they were more intelligent. As such they thought that they could do what they wanted to them. They lied, cheated, killed, and kidnapped their children in the name of superiority.

Being more intelligent, superior in some way, does not give us the right to take advantage of anyone else. If anything, because we know better, we should be held to a greater degree of accountability for the world around us.

Every life is worthwhile and deserves respect. I really don’t see how the mass killing of starfish and quail and even rats just for our curiosity is right. It really just strikes me as one of those inherently WRONG things in life.

To understand further, it’s not that I’m vegetarian. I’m still all for eating meat, because it’s useful, and natural. Seriously, when have you seen a wolf prying apart a rabbit, just to see what’s inside. Although, I am completely against the mass farming our society has gotten its self into. Ideally, I like the free-range idea or hunting for my own food (mmmm, more like someone hunting for me, maybe. I guess I have to admit to a bit of squeamishness). But there is a balance there. I am dependant on the other animal for my well-being; it’s not pleasant, but necessary.

I just don’t see the necessity in dissection for me; and maybe it is a personal thing. Some people don’t know much about the body as I do as a former massage therapist and daughter of a doctor. I also don’t see the need for dissection if I am not going into a field related to the anatomy of animals. This is a first year biology course, for heaven sake. Why does everyone interest in the sciences have to do this. Pictures would work fine for botanists or geologists. Save the hands on work for the second year, for pitty sakes. I can totally see the need to learn anatomy in such an intimate way in that kind course.

OK, I’m starting to rant a bit more than I intended, so I’ll quit now.