The Ant in the Sink

1359: 

Altruism usually means putting-in first.  It needs some effort which is usually inconvenient.  It’s made easier (‘being’ altruistic) if it’s done as easily and naturally as we breathe fresh air.  It shouldn’t be too planned nor so casual that it goes completely unnoticed, in a flourish of false modesty.

         

Say we choose to act unselfishly, in the best interests of our own child.  That feels very altruistic, but that's an everyday thing, so it's quite natural and unremarkable.  Say we now try to apply that to everything else, not too ambitiously at first, but perhaps quite rigorously.  In our next decision, it might seem something relatively small.  Small in both ways, small in an inherent speciesist way and small is size - we find an ant in the sink.  Do we act altruistically?

It might go something like this: I want to act compassionately, since it's the image I want for myself.  But I don't want to be inconvenienced.  I'm at the sink, all psyched up to do the washing up (very righteous!), but there's an ant in the sink where no ant should be (uncharitable thoughts kick in!).  It’s so easy to turn on the tap, and presto, the problem is gone.  It's just an ant.  I will decide its fate.  I’m irritated by the 'damned ant'.  I don’t want it there.  I don’t like ants.  I think of drowning it.  I resist the temptation (to turn on the tap).  I switch from self interest to the interest of the ant.  I decide to save it.  My hand reaches for a sheet of paper to scoop it up onto dry land.  I’ve learned a valuable lesson, dealing with a familiar ant-in-the-sink situation.

         

By making this choice I don’t so much solve a problem (of the ant in the sink) as recognise my own need to act non-violently.  My nose should twitch at every temptation to be selfish.  I wish it would twitch whenever I have the chance for opposite-thinking, for NOT taking the line of least resistance.

         

I have to ask myself why would I not treat the ant with the same consideration as the child?  It’s kind, yes, but it's a valuable lesson which seems so trivial at the time.  It's just another aspect of our inherent speciesism, taking me a little further on a great journey.  I draw closer to the ant’s world.  I open up my imagination, to get closer to the ant's world, an unknown world in which there is no reason to hurt the ant and good reason for the ant to remain outside human understanding.