Interesting Question

Several years ago, i was playing a board game in which you are asked questions, most of which have to do with integrity and character.

Suldog has been writing about insects, and that brought it back to my mind.

The question was, "Would you pull the wings off of a roach for a million dollars? Why or why not?"

My answer at that time was an unqualified and emphatic no, and still is. Do i squish roaches as disease carrying critters that don't belong in my house? Yes. Would i do it as a professional exterminator for a reasonable fee? If that was my line of work, yes.

To torment a living thing just for money is repugnant to me. To torment it for any reason is repugnant to me.

In this game, the questions had more than one part, and someone else read the questions to you so that you couldn't read ahead and spoil it. So the second question was, "Would your answer change if it was a beautiful butterfly?"

Again, my answer was and still is, not going to do that.

Third question was, "What if you were only going to get a dollar?"

The amount doesn't change my answer. If i absolutely have to kill something, whether for food or to keep it out of my food, i'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it goes quickly and doesn't suffer. My lack of willingness to kill for my own survival is one reason why i try to eat totally vegan, and think long and hard before ordering fish a couple of times a year in a restaurant.

There are probably people out there who would do it to a roach and not a butterfly, citing beauty as giving meaning to life, and considering the other vermin. Some would do it to either, just because there is money involved. For some, the amount wouldn't matter, they would have no problem tormenting a bug.

Suldog's recent musings reminded me of the game and question, and i'm glad he did. Since he rescues most of the bugs he runs across in his home, as i do, i decided to elaborate on the idea.

This reminds me, too, of a joke i once quoted, but since i'm getting old and forgetful, allow me to repeat myself.

Did you hear about the three churches in town that got overrun with squirrels?

One church prayed about it, and decided these were G-d's creatures, too, and they were put there for a reason, and G-d allowed it for a reason, and so did nothing. The squirrels did a great deal of damage in the attics of the buildings and made themselves a huge nuisance.

The second church prayed about it, decided these were G-d's creatures, too, and had them humanely trapped and relocated. The squirrels were back within 3 days, and did a great deal of damage in the attics of the buildings, and were a huge nuisance.

The third church prayed about it, decided these were G-d's creatures, too, so they baptized them and made them members and now they only see them at Christmas and Easter.



Today is:

Champion Crab Races Day

Feast of Shesmu -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (god of the winepress)

Fornacalia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (bread festival)

Hachinohe Enburi begins -- Hachinohe, Japan (festival with prayers for a good harvest)

Lantern Festival -- China; Taiwan

Last day of Celtic Tree Month Luis

My Way Day

National Cafe Au Lait Day

National PTA Founders Day

Quirinalia -- Roman Empirical Calendar

Random Acts of Kindness Day

St. Romulus the Martyr's Day

Tanis Diena -- Ancient Latvain Calendar (To honor pigs)

World Human Spirit Day


Anniversaries Today:

Miami University is chartered by the State of Ohio, 1809


Birthdays Today:

Jerry O'Connell, 1974
Bryan White, 1974
Billie Joe Armstrong, 1972
Denise Richards, 1972
Michael Jordan, 1963
Rene Russo, 1954
Jim Brown, 1936
Alan Bates, 1934
Barry Humphries (Dame Edna Everage), 1934
Hal Holbrook, 1925
Arthur Kennedy, 1914
Red Barber, 1908
Dorothy Canfield Fisher, 1879
William Cadbury, 1867
Friedrich A Krupp, 1854
A. Montgomery Ward, 1844


Today in History:

Miles Standish is appointed the first commander of the Plymouth colony, 1621
The first volume of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" is
published, 1776
The first ship passes through the Suez Canal, 1867
Women's suffragist Esther Morris is appointed the first female justice of the peace in the US, in South Pass City, Wyoming, 1870
Sardines are first canned, by Julius Wolff of Eastport, Maine, 1876
Madame Butterfly receives its première at La Scala in Milan, 1904
The first minimum wage law in the US takes effect, in Oregon, 1913
Johnny Weissmuller sets the 100-yard freestyle record (52.4 seconds), 1924
The first telecast of a sporting event in Japan, a baseball game, 1931
The first issue of "Newsweek" magazine is published, 1933
Vanguard 2 – The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution, 1959
Sales of the Volkswagen Beetle exceed those of the Ford Model-T, 1972
Garry Kasparov beats the Deep Blue supercomputer in a chess match, 1996
Kosovo declares independence, 2008