Conversation with Brandi about a Rabbit

Conversation with Brandi about a Rabbit

“And so, I found this rabbit along the corridor last year. I guessed someone must have dumped it. As I was afraid that she might be crushed by the lift door or eaten by the wild dogs in this area, I decided to keep her as a pet.” Brandi said.

I nodded as I fondled the rabbit’s ears from the opening in the cage. The rabbit jerked away instinctively, as though it thought my fingers were the claws of a predator.

“But actually, I started to regret my decision recently. See this part of the cage, where the plastic linings of the metal rails are being gnawed away? This was because she began to gnaw habitually at the doors of the cage, as if it is her way of telling me she wants freedom.” Brandi said as she bent down and used her finger to pat the rabbit lightly on her head.

“It looks well fed to me.” I said.

“But then again, it is not free. To an animal, I guess the most important thing for them is to be free. Isn’t it cruel for me to keep it in the cage?”

“Well, you’re not the rabbit. Don’t anthropomorphize.” I replied with a shrug.

“But if you think about this issue from both angles, isn’t this a dilemma? I mean, if I just leave it out there without bringing it back, I’m being cruel to it as it might die from being crushed by the lift door, or be eaten by dogs. But if I rear it, I’m depriving it of its freedom.” Brandi pondered.

“Well, look at it this way. The reason why you are able to consider this dilemma is because you are looking at this issue from a higher vantage point. To the rabbit, the concept of cruelty probably does not matter to it. I mean, to it, life is probably one big fucking cruel mess. It is ‘cruel’ to the rabbit at this point of time because it feels that it is not free. But the same rabbit might be thinking why someone in this cruel world did not rescue it from the jaws of the wild dogs when it is being hunted down. The point I am trying to make is, we don’t know. Unlike you, I’m agnostic and don’t know whether god exists. But if he really exists, I’m sure he’ll be the one making the judgment on whether he is being cruel to us or not. To the rest of us living in this fucked up and messed up world, we just continue to live, that’s all.”

“Interesting. So you’re saying there’s no such thing as good or evil.”

“No. I’m just saying that we cannot judge our good or evil by ourselves. Everything is relativistic no matter what values we attempt to subscribe to at our level. Good or evil should be judged by someone else on a higher vantage point.”

“I find it hard to believe that you are still agnostic. Don’t you feel afraid sometimes?”

“Sometimes, but I’m getting used to it.”

“Scary.”

“Yup.”