I was only trying to make some reasonable discernments between conscious decisions that humans have the power to make and the order in nature which is under no conscious control. Man should certainly be aware of the nature of the wild and rationally put it in its own context. But when man makes choices he shouldn't use the nature of the wild as an excuse for his actions. But I don't mean to imply that man is entirely free of nature and able to act in some completely pure manner. We have to eat, build shelters and defend our families. At our very best we can't do those things without taking life and causing others to suffer both man and beast. But we don't have to make a Roman Circus out of it to live and enjoy life. 4H is nothing like that I think you would agree.
Maybe you and the grandkids can double team that generation in the middle. ; )
Good one, sort of lost on those of us down here though. :)
You're right, 4-H is not about mistreatment of animals. The animals are all raised for show and eventually will be killed. There's a very fine line between becoming too attached to your lunch too. They are all still killed in the end and I think it's splitting hairs on the method. If you've never seen it, try and catch one of the nature shows where the baboons are stalking monkeys (or maybe not if it really bothers you). They eat their prey alive.
Steadily working on the tagteam and trying to persuade as many as we can along the way! :)