Another Unpleasant Saturday

On this Saturday, I was asked to go out for “entertainment”. To be punctual, I had to wake up as early as I did on weekdays, at half past six. It was a depressing fact that I lost a rare evening when I could sleep late. After taking a small piece of cake, I, teaming up with 5 members, started our 12-hour trip, during which I spent most of time on my bike. Coldness and strong wind were the main stream of the city at this time. It was only half an hour before I felt my hands and feet had already got frozen even though I had put on my woolen gloves. Then, three quarters later, we arrived at our destination, where participants from various universities had decided to get together. Only when I stopped my bike did I realize the essence of the trip—to appeal people to reject eating cats and dogs. Although it turned out that it was not a trip for entertainment, I was still a bit excited and interested in it, which might refresh most passers-by’s mind and raise public awareness of protecting animals. Standing a small flag printed an “X” on a picture of a cat and a dog on each bike, we, totally about 50 members, all carried strong enthusiasm and warm smiles despite of the great coldness.

After a short lunch, we came to a specific street for pedestrians but, unexpectedly, my enthusiasm started to get cool. We parked our bikes before we brought up various boards and banners walking back and forth. During the activity, I hated that the leader, who seemed to sponsor the activity, always commanded others to do this and do that. And we would even be scolded when we did something wrong. I admitted that I sometimes ate fish, chicken, pork and so on, but I felt quite illogical that she, the leader, explained to the public that now that we have eaten so many kinds of animals such as pig, fish, sheep and so on, that we should not eat dogs and cats additionally. In her words, the lives of all animals tamed by human beings seemed to be of no value except for cats and dogs as if we could killed them whenever we liked. What was much more unreasonable was that some leaflets we gave out were printed “Don’t do to others what you don’t want to be done to yourself”, but she always forced her cats and dogs she brought with her to face and to be teased by others, especially ladies and girls, just because of their cure look and smooth wool. It reminded me of a piece of news. As was known to all, koalas had to spend a lot of time in sleeping. However, popular love for their cute look led to their frequent disturbing by people, which made them ill. Did all the animals like to close to strangers? No! Like human beings, they also had various personalities. If the introverts were force to cater to others, how would they feel? It might be as terrible as they had ever felt. And it was the same to animals. They had their emotions, loves and hates. So, I didn’t think she actually love her cats and dogs. In my opinion, those who truly loved animals always offered adequate respect to animals’ habit and personality. At that time, I really hoped to leave and go back. But undoubtedly, the activity was meaningful. So I insisted staying there until the last minute of the activity came. I left alone, for they decided to go for entertainment while I didn’t want to participate in.

The greatest challenge I had ever met came. Cold, tired, sleepy, thirsty and hungry, I rode continuously for no less than one and half an hours, worrying whether I could successfully return to my university at such a dark night because I just had a weak impression of the route. Now, I really can’t imagine how I could keep on my way at that time. To be honest, at the moment when I reached my university at about half past seven, my legs were totally exhausted and hardly could I walk as a normal man did. Despite of my terrible condition, I felt a sense of accomplishment because I hadn’t given in confronting the great difficulty. But what was quite strange was that I didn’t feel a sense of happiness but a peaceful mood.

Thinking back my experience, I really can’t figure out whether it was worthwhile to spend such a day.