The golden, silver rules of animal treatment – Morganton News Herald

In the May Animal Matters article, I talked about why we need to be a role model for our youth. I'll continue that theme in this column.

You have probably heard of the Golden Rule: Treat others as you would want to be treated. Of course, there are many variations of this rule that refer to not judging others, walking in someone elses shoes, not treating others in ways that you would find hurtful, there, by the grace of God go I, and so on. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on people to donate time and money to support the program. Animal rescues also rely on individuals to give of themselves for the greater good/cause of helping the animals. No doubt, individuals who support us are treating others as they want to be treated. Thank you to those who donate time and/or money to support the animals.

REASON works with people from all over the county who call asking for assistance with spaying/neutering, finding homes for puppies/kittens, or asking for help with food for their animals, just to name a few things. If judgements were placed on every person who sought assistance from us or any of the rescues, versus lending a helping hand, where do you think our community would be? Do you think we would have seen a 41 percent decrease in the kill rate of dogs and cats over the past four years? Such progress is made because some of you believe in helping people and some in helping animals. Ultimately, everyone wins.

The Golden Rule probably strikes a chord if you yourself have ever experienced being treated with empathy. When we experience something, we relate to it and tend to be more sensitive to that circumstance. So, if people around us treat others with respect, especially as we are growing up, we are more likely to treat people with respect. What are you teaching those around you? Of course, for anyone in rescue or spay/neuter, its also about the animal. I would dare say we practice the Animal Golden Rule treating the animal as we would want to be treated if we were that animal, or treating the animal as we would want one of our own treated.

A philosopher spoke of the Silver Rule What you do not wish done to you, do not do to others. So, now its not so much a reflection of what has happened to me in my past, but its the nightmare or vision of what could happen. Again, from the animal side of this, I dont want to be chained up so that I cant move and not be able to reach food or water or my house. I dont want to be locked in a car in the heat of summer or the dead of winter. I dont want to be ignored and isolated from the rest of the family. I dont want to be abandoned, abused, forgotten about. As for me, I dont want any of my animals to be treated this way either. What is the lesson I am teaching someone if this is what they see me doing? Some of what I do may be legal, but is it something I would want done to me? If what I am doing does more good than harm, then maybe its right.

The new Burke County Animal Ordinance will go into effect Aug. 1, 2017, and it is 33-pages long and very detailed. Why? Not everyone defines what is hurtful to be same, so we need it spelled out what we should do and what we should not do. It is influenced by Animal Control officers field experiences, complaints filed, and criminal charges. Not everyone follows the Golden or Silver Rule. Some cannot put themselves in someone elses shoes because their own experiences stand in the way. Some cant empathize with an animal because their own lives are overwhelming they cant see the forest for the trees.

Our responsibility is to practice the Golden or Silver Rule every day, teach our youth by our actions toward other living beings what we would want done to us.

Debbie Hawkins is with REASON Inc.

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The golden, silver rules of animal treatment - Morganton News Herald