You Choose: Save Your Pet or Save a Stranger
Driving between southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky on Sunday afternoon I listened to a Cincinnati radio talk show. The host generated discussion by making the following declaration: Because the National Football League allowed a man convicted of manslaughter and a DUI to return to the league, the NFL can not keep convicted dog fighter Michael Vick (right) out of the league. The host's logic: Human life is more valuable than animal life.
It turned out this assumption was not shared by everyone listening. At least four callers stated that people and animals should be valued the same. Two maintained that if faced with saving the life of their pet or a stranger, they would save the pet. Almost as disturbing was what I did not hear in rebuttal. People who maintained human life has greater value than animal life gave three basic reasons why:
1. Humans intrinsically have greater value than animals
2. People have family members who would miss them more than animals miss other animals.
3. People contribute more to society and the world than animals.
What I never heard, what bothered me, was the argument that humans have greater value because they were created in God's "likeness and image." In fact, people were given responsibility over all other created beings. It also bothers me that I was carrying a cell phone. Nothing stopped me from pulling over to the side of the road and calling into the station. It's going to take some soul searching to figure out why I didn't