On Being Lucky

[unspeakablehorror]

I used to envy other animals and what I perceived as their trouble-free lives, but becoming vegan really changed my perspective on that. I realized that however powerless I am to affect the world around me, that would be many orders of magnitudes magnified if I were any other animal on Earth. At least as a human, I have more power to make use of the benefits of a human civilization built to benefit humans and to impact its direction, even if that power is still small. Humans certainly do not have equal power in this regard, but we do have power greater than that of other animals, who have no voice and no significant standing in our society. And in the case of domestic animals, being property can never be a significant standing regardless of one's quality of life, and means one's fortunes are tied entirely to the fortunes and whims of an owner whose motives are unknowable and very possibly in conflict with their own desires and needs.

And this is why I'm now glad I'm human and not any other animal. Other animals must deal with natural disasters, attacks by humans, subjugation, war, famine, and disease just as we do, but do not have access to the same tools for dealing with that that we do. It's the same reason why I prefer to be an adult than a child--because I have greater power and autonomy as an adult than I did as a child. The added responsibilities are a small price to pay.