THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 5, 1996 TAG: 9608020020
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 29 lines
Editorial writer Patrick Lackey correctly concludes in his column about animal-rights extremism that ``cruelty is cruelty no matter the victim, and kindness is kindness no matter the recipient.''
SPCA official Sharon Addams says the SPCA is ``trying to increase the capacity for love, compassion and kindness.''
These are profoundly noble and moral statements. I am confident that all those worried about how we act toward animals are equally disturbed at the way we treat our own defenseless offspring. They must be distraught about a state of affairs which offers more legal protection to the eggs of bald eagles or snail darters than to our own infants.
Surely their voices were raised in opposition to partial-birth abortions when they realized the cruelty inherent in this procedure, which more closely resembles infanticide.
The quote from Albert Schweitzer bears repeating, ``Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human beings.''
Perhaps we ought to extend kindness and compassion to our own species, at least to the extent we do for others.
JAMES G. THOMSON
Chesapeake, July 28, 1996 by CNB