Becoming an Earthling

I began this class as a human. For me, at the time, being a human meant being a leader of this earth. At the top of the food chain, I saw everything before me as being meant for me. There was no animal, no insect, no other living being that could stand superior to a human. Everything on this earth belonged to us.


I thought I held the world in my hands, never considering that it is the earth that holds us.

Then I saw Earthlings. I was not ready to see the excruciating pain these animals were subject to. Moreoever, I was not ready to feel what I felt when I saw them suffer. I felt ashamed. I felt terrified. I felt I was no longer human.
I resisted these feelings throughout the semester. I tried to forget the cows I saw slaughtered, the chickens that were ruthlessly debeaked, and the circus elephants beaten for the pure pleasure of the "human" audience. But the more I read, the less I could deny their suffering. If I wanted to feel "human" again, I knew I would have to make a change in how I treated animals.
Often, throughout the semester, I have negotiated the line between animal and human. Whether or not the two are the same or are destined to be forever distinguished from one another now seems irrelevant. They will forever be related for the mere fact that they are both living beings on this earth. This fact is undeniable. While the level of consciousness of an animal or the linguistic meaning of the word "animal" itself may be enlightening, the best way a human can learn to appreciate an animal is to learn how to share this earth.
Every leader presented in this course has been described in light of their relationships with animals. In the "Miracle of Purun Bhagat" from the Jungle Books, we know that Purun Bhagat is kind becuase he "had never in his life tasted meat and very seldom eaten even fish"(170). According to Purun Dass, "It was all one...Earth, people, and food were all one"(171). This line, to me, is reminiscent of the definition of "earthling" presented at the beginning of the film, Earthlings. To be an "earthling" is to be a fellow being of this earth. The name makes no distinction between animal, insect, or human -- they are all merely living beings.
Beyond learning what it means to be a human, what this class and perhaps the Jungle Books seeks to express, is how to learn to be a leader.
It seems significant that Kipling offers us perhaps the most compelling vision of a leader in "The White Seal." While we have certainly seen the leadership of humans like Mowgli and Purun Bhagat, the leadership of Kotick may be the most relevant. He is told at the beginning of the story by his own mother that he "'will never be able to stop the killing'"(78). Nevertheless, he adventures through the world fearlessly, determined to find a safe place for the seals. His struggle is perhaps most relevant to ours as humans because the fight to indeed "stop the killing" -- the mass murder of billions upon billions of animals -- often seems hopeless. Just as this "killing" has been so intertwined and accepted within the seal culture, so has the suffering of animals for the human culture.

Maybe if humans were as bold as this white seal, we could all hold our heads this high

If I began this class as a "human" I will leave it as an "Earthling" and a true leader of this earth. Being a leader is not composed of merely being at the top of a food chain. It is composed of both the little tasks such as not eating meat or appreciating the other bengs that surround us and the larger task of fighting against what others deem to be the inevitable. Animal suffering is not necessary -- it only occurs because we have not been lead or have not chosen to lead ourselves down a different path.