I Kill for Love

[butterflydreaming]

There was a spider. I didn't want him to see it; he's having a rough day already. Oh. But he's going to read this LJ post now and know. Heh. Oops.

I dislike killing spiders. However, the house kind will die anyway outside in the chill. I apologize. "Have a good life as a pony," I tell them as death decends in the form of a paper towel or swirling water. I mean it in a nice way.

If I had to kill my food, I wonder if I'd feel the same way. I've been fishing; I didn't catch anything. Hunting doesn't sound like a good time. I'm a city girl. My animals are already butchered and sectioned, ready to pick up from the grocery store, or already cooked up if I eat in a restaurant. It's easy not to think about it being a life -- part of a life, really.

But I do. I try to, always, and give my thanks. I'm making an effort to develop the habit of being thankful in general.

There is no value difference between the life of a spider and the life of a cow. Or a trout. Or a human child. The potential of the life may differ, and we will care differently because of context, but I believe that the inherent value is the same.

A spider in the house is easy to kill. (Easier than a 300+lb escaped tiger. For example.) There are enough reasons to justify it, too. Nevertheless, doing it makes me feel a little sorry.

Which is, I think, a good thing.

Comments

[buhrger]

i usually let the spiders live, partly because they'll eat all the other little crawly critters. the one i encountered this morning i just talked to.

"Hey, Charlotte! You've gotten big!"

[shadow-and-veil.livejournal.com]

Have any of them started to become familiar?

[buhrger]

i don't see them often enough to be sure. there aren't many, and might just be two or three - i've certainly seen that many at once.
i do occasionally vacuum up cobwebs, which isn't necessarily the friendliest thing to do.

[laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty cold-minded when it comes to my food, and sometimes I wonder if it has to do with my natural sciences background. Just as I'm aware that the cow was alive (this is Argentina after all; even in the city, you're always aware of cows, they're hanging there almost complete at the butcher's), I'm aware that I'm an omnivore and need to eat it... I couldn't be a vegetarian. I know, rationally, that it's possible to have a balanced diet without meat; but it feels like asking your body to do something it's not prepared to do.

Of course, that doesn't mean I could be the one who kills that cow/pig/etc. But biologists are complicated. I didn't feel bad opening up a rat because it was already dead when I got it, but I had to look away five minutes earlier while the teacher did the killing. :/

[kendaer.livejournal.com]

To be honest, I regret the deaths of spiders too, but they make me too squeamish to let them stay in my house, so I appreciate that you put this one out of my misery.