Day: December 5, 2011

I believe in empowering animals, rather than giving them our notions of rights.

I believe animals have the right to be treated compassionately and with dignity.

And the right to love and connection, and communion with their own kind.

I believe animals have the right to serve and work with human beings, when possible,

as they have done throughout human history.

I believe animals have the right to be understood as the distinct and sentient creatures that they are,

and not transformed into piteous and dependent rescue objects waiting for humans to bestow rights and blessings on them.

I believe animals are spirits, with the right to come and go from our world as they can and please, and not

be confined in unnatural spaces for much of their lives in service of the human’s twisted notions of mercy and compassion.

I believe animals have the right to their own emotions and language, and to have their very separate and different

language and emotions understood and comprehended and translated.

I believe animals have the right to die with dignity, and not be subjected to cruel or prolonged procedures for the benefit of humans rather than them.

I believe animals have the right to be trained properly and shown how to live in our world, as it is necessary for their survival.

I believe animals have the right to not be exploited  to make human beings feel good about themselves, or in the service of human self-righteousness, or to batter, attack or harm people.

I believe animals have the right to be considered as separate and dignified species, and not transformed into babies

and children and exist only as objects of human need.

 

I believe humans are having a dialogue with animals, especially companion and domestic animals. Often, this dialogue is cast in terms of pity and abuse, and in a patronizing way, suggesting we have rights to bestow on them. I believe the dialogue is different, deeper, that animals connect with the most ancient, mystical and spiritual parts of us, and they do not need us to bestow rights and pity on them, rather we need to listen to them and create a new language to communicate with them, and thus, elevate ourselves.

 

Many people believe they know what goes on in the head of an animal, but I believe I almost never do. I close my eyes, clear my head, and listen, and I hear sounds and feel emotions that are strange to me, and not describable. I love the mystical connection of animals and people. If I listen, only if I listen, and clear my head of the arrogant human idea that I know.

These doorknobs are in the living room of our farmhouse, leading to the upstairs, and a guest bedroom. Best guess is that they were here when the house was built in 1861. I am drawn to photographing the knobs because they suggest the choices we make, the doors we open, the spaces we enter and leave in our lives.

 

Driving around Sunday I found an old and abandoned farmhouse, and a neighbor let me in to take photos. Old barns have a splendor about them, and I loved the old basketball hoop at the far end. You could see all of the love in this old farmhouse. And there is always treasure in old barns, including this miraculous old wood stove.  There are so many old farms sitting empty. Why do we rescue animals but we abandon our farmers and leave their farms to rot?