Who’s the Real Animal? A Courtroom Drama Between Man and Beast
Who’s the Real Animal?
It might sound strange to hear me call you an animal, but in reality, animals are often better than us. Yes, it’s true. Why am I saying this? You’ll find out soon.
Imagine a dog and a human went to the court of God (someone far superior to us). God asked the human, “Tell me about your sins.” The human, thinking hard, replied, “Lord, I have not committed any sins. Whatever I did, I did out of necessity.” Now God turned to the dog, “Tell me about your sins.” The dog, smiling, said, “Lord, to save my life, I killed cats, chickens, and other creatures. Twice, I bit humans. Once because someone set off firecrackers on my tail, and once because a man was taking my puppies away from me.” God then said, “Both of you argue your case here to determine who is right and who is wrong. Then I will decide.”
The human, feeling pleased, said, “I have wealth and property that I earned through hard work. I have many dogs like you. I feed them Pedigree and non-vegetarian food. I let them live in air-conditioned rooms. I bathe them morning and evening. I spend a lot on them every month.”
The dog replied, “Did we ever ask for all this? It’s our misfortune that we can’t express our feelings to others. Yet, there are some humans who leave us free on the streets, feed us biscuits, and give us leftover food. They even protect us if someone attacks us. But then, there are others who imprison us, use us to catch thieves, make us fetch the same ball repeatedly, beat us in anger, abuse us, and abandon us far away after keeping us for years. We have the same life in us as you do. We feel happiness, pain, and love just like you. Many even eat our flesh. We do not deceive like you.”
The human said, “But we love you, that’s why we do all this.” The dog replied, “It’s not love, it’s a hobby for you. You feel happy by troubling others. That’s the truth. You have somewhat spared dogs, but what about other animals? You eat the meat of goats, chickens, cows, lions, camels, and pigs, even though you have the option to eat vegetarian food. Yet, you chose to do this. You hunt elephants for their tusks, tigers for their skins, bears for their hides, and many other animals for trivial needs. You even harm marine life. We don’t go to school, you humans created it. It teaches about global warming and carbon emissions, but you haven’t spared the earth either. You made explosive bombs to kill your own people, in which animals also die. But the main intention is to kill people.”
The human said, “But everyone does this, and I never thought much about it.” The dog said, “You had the choice to be different from others, but you chose to be like everyone else. You never used your wisdom and never turned to religion.” The human said, “What could I have done? The world runs like this.” The dog replied, “Animals live in the jungle. There, they only kill each other out of necessity for survival. But there’s no hatred, cunningness, hobbies, cars, airplanes, houses, or pollution like in human society.”
God then asked, “So what should be your fate?” The human said, “Forgive me, I seek mercy. Give me one more chance, and I will spread the message of God to everyone.”
