Compassion is to be celebrated

We ask people to slow down because too many people are dying on our roads from speed-related accidents.

We ask people to wear a mask to protect the health of others who may be immunocompromised.

We ask people to donate to help the less fortunate.

We ask for these things with the hope that the people we are sharing a community with have compassion for others. We hope that when we need compassion, it is shown for us. It’s a trait that can bring people together, even in times of disagreement, and shows us that we are all human.

That said, I am appalled that we are discouraging compassion in fellow Nevadans by fining Bobby Vaske, who freed a fox caught in a trap while on a hike with his family.

It is mind-boggling that our laws not only legally permit the suffering in the first place but then penalize someone who shows compassion for the suffering. Punish compassion?! What are we teaching our kids?

Vaske was supposed to see that fox and simply walk away while his young son looked on and asked, “Why?” Should he have answered, “That suffering is going to get someone $20”?

Kids learn more by our actions than our words. Expecting any parent to do the opposite of what Vaske did, based on our outdated, archaic trapping laws, is a crime against our community. We should be encouraging, teaching and embracing compassion within our community — not keeping it illegal.