Ignorance is Bliss, but for Who?
There is a common saying that goes “Ignorance is bliss.” The meaning of this saying is that what you don’t know doesn’t hurt you. People would rather stay in a state of ignorance than face the truth. Instead of dealing with the consequences of their deliberate actions, they prefer to pretend to be surprised and complain about how they were put out. But who is the one that is really put out? People tend to be selfish and think of themselves in such an instance as a replacement for showing compassion for the one that was harmed as a result of their actions. As a result of people being dense like this, resentment settles into the individual that is harmed; changing them forever.
As Black Beauty is taken to his new homes, we begin to hear a change of tone in his voice from happiness to sorrow and finally to resentment. This resentment is not because of the lack of care from humans, but because of the lack of knowledge humans have regarding animals. In that time, most humans believed horses to be transportation, fashion accessories, or adrenaline rush vehicles, and were thought of and treated as equipment and possessions in preference to living beings that feel pain. Due to these conditions and not having the ability to express themselves through language, the horses tolerated the treatment and lived with the pain. The longer such a life is endured, the more hate builds up in the mind of the horse of how brainless people are.
This hatred can be a result of several things: not being able to communicate, improper stabling, unkempt living quarters, missing dietary necessities, and so much more. However, most of the trouble seems to lie with the laziness of the human. Most humans will do just about anything to avoid having to do work or do what is right, including harming others. “These people never think to walk up a steep hill. Oh, no, they have paid to ride, and ride they will! The horse? Oh, he’s used to it! What were horses made for, if not to drag people uphill? Walk! A good joke indeed!” (Ch 29) Laziness is not only physical, but mental as well. Mental laziness is also one of the most dangerous situations we can put horses in. This laziness can be not recognizing the signs of pain, not learning the limitations of physical labor, and not learning the tolerability of an animal’s pain level and patience. “He drew my head back and fixed the rein so tight it was intolerable; then he went to Ginger, who was impatiently jerking her head up and down against the bit, as was her way now…she took her opportunity and reared up so suddenly…and went on plunging, rearing, and kicking in the most desperate manner…” (Ch 23)
Due to ignorance of any type, it is ultimately the horses, and all animals, that suffer. No matter what species you are, if you know that another species causes you direct pain, whether intentional or not, you tend to despise them over time. Most humans are focused on themselves and their superfluous wants and need than to realizing that horses are not tools for getting these wants and needs.
The scariest part about resentment is that you get used to pain. So far, for me, the scariest part of this story was when Beauty talked about suffering the pain. Horses, and all animals for that fact, feel pain. To think they do not is idiotic. How they suffer has to intolerable to them as they are unable to communicate in language to humans AND humans are too dumb to look for the signs. But we put animals through so much pain, they are used to it! “I could have groaned too, for I was suffering intense pain both from my foot and knees; but horses are used to bear their pain in silence.” (Ch 25) This is horrific. To be the cause of such a ritualistic pain is unbearable and we humans need to rethink the way we treat animals and what we put them through for our pleasure.
If it is true that ignorance is bliss, we cannot afford to be ignorant any longer. To know to be the cause of any pain whatsoever to an animal is unacceptable, but humans do it on a routine basis as animals suffer every day from abuse of work, fashion, or just plain malice. We humans need to straighten up, stop being lazy, get smarter, be more alert and respectful to the pains that we put animals through. Once we have done this we can stop blaming the animals for being “unruly” and start taking responsibilities head on and put a stop to the pain of unnecessary pleasures. While they do help us work, we need to realize that they feel pain and tiredness just as we do. We need to learn to understand their limitations and respect them instead of using them as vehicles to get our ridiculous pleasures. This way they can learn to respect us again and let go of their resentment toward humans as a whole.
