Gao Huan

With the rapid development of technology and economy, the material side of human existence is getting better everyday. But the spiritual side doesn��t seem to enjoy an equally sound growth. In this accelerating society, people are getting more alienated. But the need of love and belongingness, as one of the five levels of human needs according to the psychologist Maslow, can never be ignored.

If people are suffering loneliness, they need some compensation for lack of company. If people are undergoing stress, they need some relaxation to relieve it. Unfortunately, sometimes family or other forms of companionship turns out to be a painful trial. But to keep a pet as an emotional comfort seems much safer and more troublesaving.

Human beings are losing touch with Nature. Desperate to return to it, they turn to pets again. Of course, the animals are far less socialized and civilized, i.e. more natural, than ourselves.

But to go a little bit deeper, we will find pets are merely fakes of somebody else or Nature. They are fakes unconsciously made up by ourselves to cheat ourselves with. They can��t really fulfil our needs.

To be fair, pet-keeping does do some good to people��s peace of mind. For example, suicide rate falls. It��s better than nothing. Though not an ideal remedy, it can serve as a make-shift.

But pet-keeping is a narcotic with a treacherous side-effect. Many people have got addicted to pets. They treat them awfully well. When a large population on this planet are still suffering from starvation, many pets are like in paradise. It��s a shame on humans to be so inhumane and ridiculously unfair. In the Middle Age, gods were given priority over humans. Now there seems to be an undue neglect of mankind again. I wonder whether there should be another Renaissance to pull down the pets from the too-high rung of the ladder and push humans upward.

Humans are fundamentally different from animals. A human society should be based on direct interpersonal relationships. If we go on with the excessive emphasis on pets, we will get caught in a dangerous vicious circle. The more people depend on animals for mental support, the more alienated they are to other people. If scares me to imagine that one day we return to the forest as apes, where there is almost no social bond.

The disease of alienation and sense of loss must be cured by humans themselves. There is no other choice. We shouldn��t let our ego be fooled to say yes while our id says no. It will surely take much effort and time. It might even never be achieved at all. But we have to try. Anyway, we must not rely on those cute creatures that are less intelligent than ourselves anymore.

Professor Bruce Wilson's comment: (Beloit College)

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