The image kept coming
back. In flashes. Violent and clear.
A grey bin bag flying into
the rubbish container at the side of the road.
The air filled with death
and cold indifference.
One of our dogs had
already killed six of our chickens. It was Friday, sunshine at noon,
my house mate's birthday. The lunch guests were about to arrive when
I saw another dead chicken on the lawn. Not the best sight when the
family is coming for a birthday gathering...
Since there wasn't much time I did the first thing that came to mind: I grabbed a bin bag,
put the dead chicken in and drove to the nearest rubbish site.
Slightly in a hurry, I stopped, engine running, got the chicken bag
out and threw it into the container.
Two minutes later I was
back home.
While the chicken started
to rot away, covered by all sorts of other stuff that we throw away,
my own life continued as usual. But then, out of nothing, the images
of that moment at the rubbish container started to infiltrate my
mind. And my heart.
The day after the birthday
lunch (which was totally vegan by the way), we indulged in a huge and
very tasty Argentinian BBQ. Chewing on the blood-drenched meat, a
wave of pleasure sailed over my face. Here I was, eating death and
enjoying it.
Then the memory of the
dead chicken returned...
Ethically and morally it's a very weird and definitely questionable
habit to eat meat, but I guess it's just something many of us do. So let's accept
that for a moment.
What's totally NOT
acceptable though is that we kill other beings AND treat them like
shit, every single day of their lives! We steal the babies from the
mothers, we pump them up with drugs and crappy food, put them in
cages, no fresh air, hardly space to turn around, noise, excrements
everywhere and no hope for any happiness. Then, after a short and
miserable life, we kill them, eat them and don't even say thank you.
The chicken that I've
thrown into the bin got killed running around the garden, by a dog
who probably just wanted to play. Bad luck, and nothing I can do
about.
But here's the question
I've been asking myself ever since that day: The chicken had given me
eggs to eat for many months – didn't it deserve a bit more than a
heartless flight into a black container? A little gesture of
gratitude, was that too much to ask for? I still can't believe that
I didn't take the time to dig a hole somewhere and at least show the
chicken some respect. Shame on me!
Carnivore, vegetarian,
vegan – it doesn't matter. Well, it does, but what's much more
important is something else: Whatever we do, whatever we eat and
consume – shouldn't we make an effort to do it in a respectful
manner? Shouldn't we care for and love everything that helps us to
enjoy life? Whether it's a chicken, an apple tree or a mountain
spring; whether it's a person who makes our clothes or a whole planet that provides food, shelter and special moments.
How long until we become beautiful humans?
Time to care.
Not only that, by digging a hole for the animal you are also giving back to nature. You are fertilising the earth and feeding the life within it. Helping the chickens life not go completely to waste :)
ReplyDeleteNow you know for next one.
Tip: Make sure the hole is deep. Those dogs that wanted to play with it (and killed it) will also want to dig it up and roll in/eat it!
Creatures eat other creatures. That's life! Even plants have feelings so we are told and try to protect themselves from being eaten! What we should do is respect our food and where it comes from whether we are vegetarian or omnivorous.
ReplyDeleteYou barbecued an Argentinian? That's very disrespectful indeed! Especially after what you did to them in the world cup.
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, I think throwing a dead chicken in the bin is nowhere near as bad as contributing to an industry that kills animals for profit - no matter how 'respectfully' they do it. These days we still look back on white slave traders who treated their slaves relatively well in much the same light that we look on white slaver owners in general.
Future generations may well look back on the last couple of centuries in the same way we look back on the centuries of racially specific human slavery - not least because we knowingly helped to screw their planet just to satisfy our hunger for meat and oil. But in a species-specific way.