By Melya Kaplan, Executive Director, Voice For The Animals
Not long ago, people used to pay to watch the mentally ill in asylums. It was considered entertainment.
Today, we look back at that practice with disbelief, ashamed that such cruelty was ever accepted. We see our rejection of it as a sign that humanity is evolving. We recognize that suffering—no matter who experiences it—should never be a spectacle.
This is the value of compassion.
There will come a day, not far off, when we will look back at how we used animals for entertainment, for food, for experiments, for clothing—how we dismissed their suffering as less important than ours—with the same horror and disbelief.
We will see it as a dark period in our history. And we will celebrate the fact that it no longer exists, proof that our species is evolving.
Compassion is not weakness. It is not a luxury. It is an adaptation—a way for our species to survive, to grow, and to thrive. Just as nature selects for strength and resilience, we must select for kindness.
That is the value of compassion. And it is time we embrace it.