The warm spring weather is back now, but winter returned for a couple of days earlier this week. It even snowed a little. The pretty dwarf larkspur, which is very plentiful here, has gone a little droopy and sad as a result, but the blooms have survived. Wildflowers are tough...(Click here to read the rest.)
5 comments:
Thank you for the beautiful photos. We are in need of spring here in Maine, where April is the cruelest month.
I enjoyed your thoughts on what goes on in the minds of the mating birds. I'm afraid that not much is, but there's nothing wrong with that, in my opinion.
Recently a friend of mine said that his cat was "sadistic" because she "enjoyed" playing with her prey. Sadism implies that there is pleasure in torture. I do not think cats are capable of torture. They have no ethics to bend or break. We see torture, but for them, it's instinct, and play. We should look away if it bothers us.
Sorry if I went off topic! But I would LOVE to know what does go on in the mind of animals. And, I like to imagine that my cat loves me. Maybe I'd rather not know the truth!
I wondered if there were any flowers yet in Maine. I seem to remember from my years in Massachusetts that flowers would have appeared by now--but Maine's a tougher environment.
I think some of my animals have loved me, or at least regarded me with a certain awe. To the others I think I've just been the maid.
The problem with the birds or the hunting cat is that the behavior they exhibit is indistinguishable from our behavior--and since we don't know the animals' minds, it's as groundless to say that they don't feel malice (or jealousy, etc.) as to say that they do. I'm interested in what this says about us, and our ideas about ourselves. Why do I think I have ethics?
Your question implies that you think you may not. Or perhaps I misread you.
Are you questioning whether your ethics have any merit, or just the concept of ethics itself?
Oh, I have seen a few crocuses. But they are few this year. I can see the shoots of daffodils pushing through the dirt, and I am looking forward to them. It was a beautiful day here, with the promise of spring. However, snow is predicted!
I hope your daffodils survive the snow, and are worth the wait!
I guess I'm questioning the reality of ethics as a distinctly human gift. It seems possible that all animals have some moral capacity, or none of us do. The two possibilities seem equally plausible.
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