I've got this friend.... well, actually she's just a fairly new 'friend', so I'm not entirely sure I can call her a friend yet (isn't there a qualifying period for friendships?lol) but anyway....
She is a beautiful calm natured person who would never raise her voice at naughty children, is a vegetarian for reasons relating to animal cruelty I believe and, I have just found out, would never hurt a fly LITERALLY.
We were visiting her recently and she mentioned that she doesn't allow her kids to kill anything from the bug world, including flies. Now, I'm all for animal rights and preventing animal cruelty etc, BUT, is this taking it too far? I mean, they have no fly wires on their doors, and after having most of the doors open during the afternoon there were a good mixture of your common house fly and more robust blow fly with maybe a mozzie or 2 thrown in the mix flying happily around inside. What happens to those flies once you close all the doors for the evening? Are they all escorted outside without a fuss? In our house, the ones further inside (not near a door) would be hunted down and showered in flyspray and the ones near the back door would be granted a second chance and let out the door with the help of a waving hand (yes, I can be humane sometimes!)
I believe in teaching children to respect all living things, but I also believe in teaching them that not all things are equal in the world. Flies are dirty and carry germs, and if found inside may be killed. However, flies outside are there as a food source for spiders and other living things so we should allow them to fly on their merry way. My point is, where do we draw the line? IS there a line?
Disclaimer...I have nothing against my 'friend's beliefs and absolutely respect the way she is teaching her children about animals. I am actually of the same opinion as her about a few animal related issues, including boycotting Caged Eggs for obvious reasons.
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