Monday, November 16, 2009
The innocent.I just watched an episode of Bones and I wept. In words, I cannot put it in any other way: I wept, like it says in the shortest verse of the Bible.
It was triggered by the episode in the show where a murderer used his dog to kill a man. The dog was a big dog called Ripley, and in the story, Ripley was originally sent to a vet to be put to sleep because his owners 'didn't realise that he would grow so big'. The vet couldn't bear to euthanise the dog so he re-homed him. Unbeknown to him the dog was instead used as a fighting dog in an illegal dog-fighting activity. The vet found out, took videos and pictures of the dog-fight as evidence; the owner saw him, and then ordered Ripley to attack the vet, resulting in the man's death. Eventually, Dr Brennan decided to adopt Ripley after the case was solved - she even made him a dog tag with the name 'Ripley Brennan' on it, but then Agent Booth tells her that Ripley had to be put to sleep because he had killed a man.
But the dog was innocent. He only obeyed his master's command.
On behalf of humankind, universe, I'd like to apologize for what happened to Ripley. He was born a cute little puppy. And then the people who adopted him wanted to kill him because they were too stupid to realize that ... he would grow into a big dog. Ripley was a good dog. He didn't want to fight. But he did it to please his master. He didn't want to attack a human being, but he did it to please his master. You know, it wasn't Ripley's fault that his ... master was cruel and selfish. Like all dogs, Ripley only saw the good in people.When I saw this episode, I cried. Because it is true. Ripley was innocent. Just like other animals. Just like children forced into becoming soldiers. Just like how natural disaster victims lose their lives and homes without any pre-warning. How can any of these victims be blamed, let alone be punished for misdeeds of which they are innocent?