1177:
When animals leave the farm,
there are no goodbyes. There must be no
emotion. It’s essential to withdraw any
shred of affection for one’s animals, when they leave the farm. They will soon enough appear again, as figures
in the accounts.
Don’t waive them goodbye.
Don’t let the kids shed any tears. They’re
just off on a holiday. One way ticket, though.
Will they be transported in
comfort? No. There will be terrible times ahead, en route. But if you’re thinking travel-discomfort,
think again. Towards the end of a
terrifying transportation, a new dread sneaks in. A whiff of something not-right. A whiff of the
unknown-and-yet-very-well-known. A whiff
of blood and grime. And as it gets stronger the dread increases. The animal knows something it can’t
possibly ‘know’. En route to the
abattoir, do they sense the next level of discomfort? Brutality?
Soon enough, ‘said animal’ is
cattle-prodded into the killing chamber, and terror distils fear into adrenalin,
which floods the muscle tissue-soon-to-be-human-food. Terror in the making, steak in the making: life
is being terminated.
The emotional detachment of
the farmer, the coldness of the killer, the indifference of the end-consumer,
all that is carried through from killers to packers to sellers, to eaters, and on
to a network of delicate arteries!
How can one’s carelessness
turn back to common sense? How can such a devil-may-care attitude switch across
to its very opposite - one of love and respect for these animals? It’s true, humans
do love animals. But, only if they’re
cute. Not these animals. These
are the unlovable ones. Otherwise how
could we eat them?
Our first step - change the nature of our relationship with
these animals - regard them as equals. If
humans have rights, so too should animals; not the right to vote or receive a
comprehensive education or have warm clothing to wear, but a right to live
alongside us, as partners, even as symbiotic partners. I can imagine a safe, happy hen, contributing
spare ova in hidden nests around an overgrown and rambling garden. With human
guardians who are incapable of any violence or killing. A safe, hen-heaven? I
can also imagine that this is almost pie-in-the-sky! But humans could so easily
be in this sort of relationship with animals.
Egalitarianism, for all its
faults, provides a levelling influence on us all. The idea is in our ability to be
equalising. It’s where, say a dog or a
human or a tree exist on a similar level, without separation. If equality is the benign force behind Nature,
then that same equality must be reflected in human nature, in what we
do. If we can be affectionate towards a
beloved dog, then surely we can show affection towards any living thing, even
towards the least lovable. But why, and for
what reason? For nothing better than the pleasure of being like that. It’s an attitude which covers just about
everything – energy, happiness, release-of-energy. And it all happens by way of actions and
thought. It’s all ‘done’ without any
attempt to meet personal-needs first. (Thinking about others before you think
self-interest).
You might say, “A simple
‘thank-you’ wouldn’t go amiss. But,
bottom-line, whatever we do on behalf of a cow, is done without the faintest
chance of getting a “thank-you” type-of-reward for our troubles.
“Troubles”?!!! Wot troubles?
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