“Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.” Genesis, chapter 1, verse 28b
That is a powerful charge, to be “responsible”. We humans have an opportunity to exercise stewardship over the Earth and the beings on the Earth (and beyond, depending on your view of life throughout the universe). It is also a blessed obligation, one that we too often abuse or neglect.
Sometimes people are so focused on themselves that they are blind to the consequences or impacts of an action. For example, within the brief period around Christmas, I am aware of multiple instances of people abandoning dogs and cats in rural environments. Of course, these actions are not new, it has been happening for many many years. Yet it is a tragic willful neglect of our responsibility of stewardship and care for that which is under our care.
The concept of “stewardship” in one of the ethical values that can allow humanity to positively impact the Earth. In some cases, it is even a part of governmental functions such as a state’s “Department of Environmental Conservation” or similar. But in most cases that ethical value is expressed in the individual actions of people toward the animals and resources that the Earth sustains.
Deliberate cruelty and shirking of responsibility are not ethical values. Abandoning a domestic animal in a frigid (or sweltering) unfamiliar environment invites tragedy on so many levels. That is not the way to demonstrate proper stewardship nor does it provide a positive example.
I fully understand that this little blog post has limited reach and probably is being read by like-minded individuals who are horrified by the lack of ethical stewardship of the world around us. But if the mind of one person can be changed, perhaps that is the whole purpose of this writing. And that might be enough.