I hope to make people realize how totally helpless animals are, how dependent on us, trusting as a child must that we will be kind and take care of their needs.
James HerriotRead
I wish people would realize that animals are totally dependent on us, helpless, like children, a trust that is put upon us.
Interpretation
Animals rely on humans for care and protection, much like children depend on adults.
James Herriot highlights the deep responsibility humans have towards animals, emphasizing their vulnerability and dependence similar to that of children. This quote challenges us to acknowledge the trust that animals place in us and calls for compassion and responsible stewardship in our relationship with them.
In practice
This quote can be used in an animal welfare campaign to emphasize the importance of caring for pets.
I hope to make people realize how totally helpless animals are, how dependent on us, trusting as a child must that we will be kind and take care of their needs.
I have felt cats rubbing their faces against mine and touching my cheek with claws carefully sheathed. These things, to me, are expressions of love.
I love writing about my job because I loved it, and it was a particularly interesting one when I was a young man. It was like holidays with pay to me.
We have to have a deep, patient compassion for the fears of others and irrational mania of those who hate or condemn us.
It takes nothing away from a human to be kind to an animal.
Unless you have suffered and wept, you really don't understand what compassion is, nor can you give comfort to someone who is suffering. If you haven't cried, you can't dry another's eyes. Unless you've walked in darkness, you can't help wanderers find the way. Unless you've looked into the eyes of menacing death and felt its hot breath, you can't help another rise from the dead and taste anew the joy of being alive.
Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life.
Most people never really sat down and got to know a homeless person, but every homeless person is just a real person that was created by God and it is the same kind of different as us; they just have a different story.
Every single being, even those who are hostile to us, is just as afraid of suffering as we are, and seeks happiness in the same way we do. Every person has the same right as we do to be happy and not to suffer. So let's take care of others wholeheartedly, of both our friends and our enemies. This is the basis for true compassion.
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