Thanks for the comment.
I won’t go into detail about the dog, but it Most certainly had a few minutes to live, and a vet would not have been a viable option.
Interestingly, Phra Ajaan in the video above mentions that people who come across death more often become desensitised to death.
Referring back to the scenario. I saw doggy take its last breath, therefore Had a bit of a connection, So, I wanted to retrieve its body and give it some dignity After death, which would have been dangerous on a motorway. Ultimately we left it.
But if it was a human, dead or alive, I’m sure people would pull up, get out of their cars, to attend to that person/body.
This makes me think when I first started driving in Thailand, I was often taught if you know you’re about to hit a dog, do not react. Just continue driving, as you can do nothing to help it, there are so many street dogs, and you will see dogs getting run over or injured on a regular basis.
So two things here..
1) Are humans less sensitive to The well being of a dog to that of a human? Does it not deserve the same dignity as that of a human even after death?
I’ve been fortunate enough to observe street dogs in Asia, seeing their struggle and will to live...just like us. They are free spirited dogs, with no owner... So the thought occurred to me, Would we as humans like to be owned? And tagged? And our fate decided for us?
2) I am often asked by Non Western friends familiar with the news on Black Lives Matter, why The West is racist? And as an Asian, am I in fear? My response is, isn’t it the most wonderful thing to see a global “Black Lives Matter movement” To see that people have become ‘sensitive’ enough To care for one another regardless of colour, And above anything else, even over the fear of arrest? And isn’t it great to see Governments take a laxed approach to statues being torn down? For a few generations back, things were a little different, and even women could not attend University. Was it not until the 1960s, That a woman’s place was in the home? And isn’t it fantastic that young Thai people are sensitive enough to care for another persons well being to, to pluck up the courage and go against the cultural flow, that only weeks ago nobody would dare talk about?
So this leads to a question? When we see in other lives, be it a dog, human, mosquito, the same struggle, desires, or the will to live, ‘The same qualities that we see in ourselves’, do we not become more sensitive to their well being? In which case, What makes an industrial farmer that kills en mass unable to relate Themselves to the animals that they kill?