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Quirky...
This was an absolutly beautiful story. I felt it.
posted by
A_Norseman
on December 2, 2004 at 10:23 PM
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Jemmie, thanks.
I have a soft spot in my heart for this one as well.
posted by
Julia.
on September 16, 2004 at 10:02 AM
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I remember this post well.
I think it may have been one of the first I read of yours and was the one the put you on my favorites list.
posted by
Jemmie211
on September 16, 2004 at 9:52 AM
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ExStud, THANKS for
explaining that! Now I get what he was saying. I think there is a difference between killing plants to eat them, and mindlessly maiming them with hot coffee. One serves a purpose (sustaining life) where the other, does not (he could have poured his coffee into the street).
Thanks for your very thoughtful comment. 
posted by
Julia.
on September 16, 2004 at 8:26 AM
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What Nevertheless means is presumably that in order to carry your
sympathy for other life forms -- such as plants -- to its logical conclusion, we would be morally obliged to spare the sort of food eaten by vegetarians, meaning that no one could eat anything, because everything we eat is a living organism. Obviously to obey this ethos would be suicidal, but long live plants!
I think the important point is that not all living organisms can be entitled to live without humans (and all herbivorous animals) denying their own right to live -- since to refuse to kill plants to spare the plants' feelings means that we cannot eat anything, and then we won't survive long. You see how the ethos of 'save the plants' would thus be contradictory -- in respecting plant life, we would sacrifice human (and animal) life.
Plants are not sentient. They cannot, according to any known scientific standards, feel pain, are not self-aware, have no consciousness. If in some reality -- unknown to humans -- plants do in fact have consciousness and sentience, then we commit a grave sin when we kill them for any reason, including our own nourishment. Do you seriously suggest that we spare plants at the expense of our own lives (kill ourselves -- sentient, conscious people -- for the sake of organisms which are not sentient nor conscious)?
To be fair, your story is different. That man killed those flowers for no benefit to himself nor anyone else. Is that what you object to? That he was gratuitously harmful or cruel to those flowers? If so, I suppose I can understand your pain, but still you are faced with the problem of proving plants' sentience -- how do you know they experienced pain when he killed them?
posted by
Dyl_Pickle
on September 16, 2004 at 4:35 AM
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nevertheless,
I'd answer your comment, but I have absolutely no idea what it means.
posted by
Julia.
on September 15, 2004 at 9:08 PM
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David S,
Thanks! (If there was an icon for blushing, I'd use it here).
posted by
Julia.
on September 15, 2004 at 8:43 PM
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Tapsel,
Oh, thank goodness you went back to re-read the beginning!! No, I'd never think it was funny; it was so very heartbreaking.
posted by
Julia.
on September 15, 2004 at 5:30 PM
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So it turns out...
even the vegetarians are murderers. Hmm...
posted by
nevertheless
on September 15, 2004 at 4:46 PM
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Make that QuirKy
posted by
David_S
on September 15, 2004 at 3:44 PM
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Bravo Quiry !
You're my all around fave writer !
Love, David
posted by
David_S
on September 15, 2004 at 3:42 PM
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Quirky - I wasn't paying much attention at first and I thought you
were re-posting your favorite "humor" post. As I read along, I was horrified that you would think this was funny. I finally went back and re-read the beginning explanatory comment and decided you were re-posting a serious post--and I was so glad. lol
posted by
TAPS.
on September 15, 2004 at 3:37 PM
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aardvark,
that I'm quirky?? Or that there's a reason I'm alone, lol...
posted by
Julia.
on September 15, 2004 at 1:59 PM
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I think this blog reflects your Blogit nickname.
posted by
aardvark
on September 15, 2004 at 12:25 PM
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Yes, AngieK...and vice versa.
Both of them depend on us to protect and nourish them.
posted by
Julia.
on September 15, 2004 at 9:46 AM
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MariVye, thanks.
I wouldn't have believed that I could hear them, but I did have my back to them at first, so I don't think it was my imagination. Plus, I just felt their pain and anguish. Bloggers will call me a fruitcake now, but I've been called worse, lol.
posted by
Julia.
on September 15, 2004 at 9:45 AM
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Yes, people can be very cruel.
Flowers remind me of children. Take care
posted by
Flumpystalls3000
on September 15, 2004 at 9:32 AM
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Beautiful and terribly sad. Thank you for commenting the flowers. Ever since I was a little girl I have felt that inanimate objects and non-human living things (like flowers, trees, animals etc.) have feelings too. I must have acquired that from all the reading I did when I was a child ("Charlotte's Web" and the like).
posted by
MariVye
on September 15, 2004 at 9:22 AM
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Hollee,
Flower fouler is one heck of a tongue twister!!
posted by
Julia.
on September 15, 2004 at 9:16 AM
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Belle,
Yes I know it's hard for most people to believe but it did happen.
P.S. Don't worry, I'm not tailoring my posts to you; I've been wanting to post this again anyway because it is my favorite piece since coming to Blogit.
posted by
Julia.
on September 15, 2004 at 8:24 AM
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Quirk - he was a flower fouler - and pansies are my favorite - poor babies
posted by
Hollee
on September 15, 2004 at 6:24 AM
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Quirky. That is indeed an extraordinary story.Very difficult to believe ...
and all the more memorable for it. Maybe he really wanted to hurt someone that day and so took it out on something that could not fight back.
For goodness sake don't tailor your posts to me. Remember I am a freak and take great pleasure in that
posted by
beachbelle
on September 15, 2004 at 5:38 AM
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