Empathy In Extremis
Talk to the walls
“If I could talk to the animals…” sang Dr Doolittle, and then proceeded to do so.
How interesting would it be? Maybe not so much as you would imagine. What if you dedicated your life to establishing communication with a dolphin and then found that all of their conversation revolved around how to find the warm currents close to the shore, or whether it was better to swallow fish whole or crunch them first to release the juices. And what if they showed no interest in knowing about your Duke916 or Instagram account?
What your animal pals can contribute is always going to be constrained by their nature and experience (which is of course also true of human pals).
They call me Mr Green in our house, because of my lenient attitude to bugs. Slower moving beasts, like wasps and spiders, get wrapped in a handkerchief which then gets shaken out of a doorway. Flies get chased towards an open window.
It’s not really due to any ecological considerations. I just figure they have a tough enough little life already, so why make it worse by splatting them on sight?
I have to make an exception for mosquitos. I’ve tried reasoning with them, proposing a truce, but they’ve made their mind up to attack me and my family regardless, so they’ve forfeited the humane treatment.
