by William Bowman

Created on: August 22, 2009

cruel

adjective (crueller, cruellest or crueler, cruelest) 1 disregarding or taking pleasure in the pain or suffering of others. 2 causing pain or suffering.

DERIVATIVES cruelly adverb.

ORIGIN Latin crudelis, related to crudus 'raw, rough'.

-from Oxford Compact English Dictionary

Going by the first definition, it is possible to live without cruelty. Going by the second definition it is impossible to live without cruelty. I will illustrate why.

Pay attention to what you are doing as you read this article. Your blood is pulsing through your circulatory system, your breath is flowing in and out of you. You are making little adjustments as you sit. Basically, your body is idling. Even in this state, you are killing things, causing pain and suffering. Admittedly, this is on a microscopic level, but it is true nevertheless. Lots of microorganisms are being executed by your immune system on a constant basis.

Every animal causes pain and suffering. This is because we all depend on devouring other living things to sustain ourselves. Make no mistake: when you eat, you are eating things that were once alive. If something is alive, it can feel pain in some manner. Don't think that just because you stop eating animal flesh and decide not to wear fur or leather you are suddenly more humane.

Even leaving aside the eating and wearing of other life, just by living as we do, by controlling our environment in the ways we are so used to, we are causing untold pain and suffering. Our cities make good homes for us but for far fewer species than the lands they were originally built on. Our roads and highways cut the land into chunks that are more useful for us but far less useful for wildlife. To be sure, these roads can be crossed, but you have only to look at the shoulders of the road for evidence that it isn't easy for, say, a deer or rabbit to cross. Then there is the matter of our use of synthetic materials - derived from petroleum products at a ridiculous cost to the atmosphere. And our addiction to petroleum products for energy.

We routinely murder plants and insects in our lawns, gardens and farms. If we could, we would eradicate roaches, flies, fleas and ticks, not to mention the numerous microbes that are deadly to us.

No, our heritage is one of brutal, bloody conquest. This is as it should be. Harmony, peace, these are things we have constructed. They are artificial. What is natural is cruelty. Anyone who tells you different hasn't sat down and thought it through. Or else they're unwilling to admit that life without a nervous system is, in fact, life. Life will always be a struggle for dominance and dominance always involves pain and suffering. Wishing it were not so will not change things.

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