SPEAK OUT AND SAVE THE WORLD - HOW HIVE CHANGED ME (A TRUE LIFE EXPERIENCE)

There is a saying that "evil prevails when good men do or say nothing" and just recently I have come to understand and acknowledge how true these words are.

We all, regardless of our societal or financial status can contribute in our little ways in the fight against evil.
Often times, the fight against evil doesn't require our physical might but just our little gestures, it sometimes requires that we speak out and condemn those evil practices and ideas that are propagated daily.
It's really amazing but our little statements and gestures against evil can go a long way in triggering the required change and transforming life and the society into a more healthy and saner clime.

Few days back, I found myself angrily scolding a boy for hitting a cat. It was quite unlike myself because the cat in question was his pet and not mine and so I wouldn't have cared about whatever he did to it.
I would normally not have meddled into his affair but this time, I just couldn't hold myself.

I really didn't know how or when I had left where I was sitting but I found myself few meters away from where I was rebuking and scolding this young lad for his actions towards this little creature.

My actions were quite impulsive as I didn't think before I acted. I was just carried away by the disdain for his actions and how I could just make sure it is stopped.

I remember my words as I ran towards him " stop that!, stopt that!, why are you hitting that cat like that, do you want to kill him ? "😄

He was a little boy, maybe a young teenager. He looked at me with so much surprise and amazement, one that could be interpreted to mean "do you realize that this is just an animal and not a human ?". He explained that the cat was very stubborn and he never intended to kill the cat but to punish and correct him for his stubbornness. Although he was young, he seemed to know a few things about cats. He said the cat won't die and infact cats are very strong animals.

I strongly condemned his actions and told him that it's really an evil thing to treat that little creature like that.

image by me

I also felt a kind of pity for the young boy, I had been in his place before( a place of ignorance and lack of animal sympathy) and I understood quite well that he was just another product of my environment ( an environment where people are ignorant insensitive and apathetic to animal feelings and welfare )

Although I hadn't really kept a pet myself and couldn't proffer a solution as to how he could correct the cat, I still had to explain to him that animals, just like humans have feelings and they feel pains too.
I asked him some simple questions like "do you like to be flogged ?, how do you feel when you're you're hit or whipped with a cane?, do you enjoy it ?."
He was speechless for a while. I could tell that the talks were getting to him, I could tell that he was having a rethink and was beginning to see how cruel he acted. He later confessed that he so much hated to be flogged and he was always terrified whenever he saw a whip.

Although he still tried to childishly justify his actions by muttering some words like "this cat is really stubborn, he doesn't listen", I could see the remorse in his face, I knew he had gotten the message and it was enlightening and transforming his mind.

When I left him, I was really surprised at myself. I really didn't know how and when I had became so emotional and sensitive, how I had began to feel so much empathy and sympathy towards animals. Although we now have some animals around my house ( a dog and cat which I have now become fond of) I have never personally owned or taken care of any pet.

image owned by me

I knew something had changed about me. I knew my mindset and feelings towards animals had changed. While I was still lost in thoughts about how my mindset towards animals had gradually changed, my mind quickly flashed back to an incident that happened months ago in one of the social media groups that I was in, an incident that unknown to me had triggered a change in the way I felt and thought about what was a proper and acceptable way of treating animals.

The incident had happened months ago in the OCD Discord group, I remember it began after I had advised someone to punish a pet because it was unyielding ( I think it either refused to eat or was just stubborn ). It's been a while now and the memory is now hazy but I think he had lodged a light complain about the animal refusing to eat and I gave him an advise which I have come to realise was inhumane, cruel and barbaric.

I had told him to either allow it starve or whip sense into the animal ( please you all should forgive me 🤦 😀, I was quite a jerk). I was still in the dark, I felt I had given a good advice, after all it was just an animal and not a human plus it was being stubborn and needed to be corrected. I was insensitive to animal feelings and pains. I didn't have a sense of sympathy and empathy towards animals. I had a very wrong ignorant and had a wrong mindset.

My statement caused a frenzy in the group as a lot people stopped by to condemn it. It faced strong criticism and disapproval. I even got lambasted and rebuked for propagating such barbaric idea.

I was still adamant and unyielding. I still felt that I was right. I couldn't just understand why it was wrong to spank an animal in correction, after all these practices and methods have been in operation for years in my clime and they have worked well for my people.

My mindset and judgements about what methods/practices were proper was a result of nuture(environmental influence). It was based on what I was raised and was made to know as correct. (but you know the fact that everyone is doing a thing doesn't make it right.)

In course of the arguments, a lot of valuable informations were release and although I was given some rational and objective reasons why such methods and practices were unacceptable, I was still unyielding and like the young child that I had rebuked and corrected, I still tried to justify my actions but deep down my heart, a new and better idea had been deposited like a seed.

After that day, the seed(idea) started developing, I started to think critically about what I had said and about what had ensued in the social media group. I started thinking about the ideas I grew up to know as right and have ever since endorsed, accepted and propagated. I began to realize how faulted, barbaric and cruel it was. I began to see the sense in what people had said in the group and I gradually began developing the feelings of empathy and sympathy for animals and began to see them in a new light. My mind gradually changed and started developing sensitivity to the plight of animals.

Because of the experience with this young child, I have come to realize that the little seed(idea) which was sown in my heart as a result of the fact that people did not overlook my wrong notion but spoke out and condemned it, had now grown and is now maturing.
I have come to understand that we do not always need to fight or force people to quit their wrong ways, but by just speaking out and pointing to how faulted those ideas and practices are, we stir up their minds to rethink and a re-evaluation of their ways, and we make them to consciously and eagerly want to know the truth and satisfy themselves with knowledge of the truth.

I've just realised that my mindset changed because of that day, and the evil in my heart did not prevail because some good men did not sit down and do or say nothing.

I'm really grateful to everyone that had taken their time that day to rebuke and correct me.
Although I learnt the hard way but I still appreciate the fact that I'm better now and have joined the force in fighting against these inhumane, cruel and barbaric methods and ideas.
I know that very soon, the little boy I had spoken to would join this force and little by little , we would together make the world a better place.

Let's speak out and fight against evil in the little ways we can. Although you may not realize it but a little change takes place whenever you speak out against evil. The Hive platform is also another avenue speak out and correct some ills. Let us be deliberate about making a positive change, let us be deliberate about speaking out and correcting wrongs. Let us help one another know the truth. We have to do it with love, politeness and respect. Let's not sit back and watch evil prevail. We need to speak out and save the world.

Thanks you so much for stopping by. I hope you found this interesting.

I want to specially thank @derangedvisions, @stevenson7, @acidyo, @pusen, and everyone else that spoke out that day, I really can't remember all of you but you all did well. Your efforts paid off. And to everyone I may have hurt in course of my lame arguments, I want to say I am really sorry. Please pardon me 🙏🙏.