Early in my career I met a coworker who was a vegetarian. I made fun of his choices. I said the standard cracks like “If we weren’t supposed to eat animals then why are they so delicious?” He was unfazed, held his ground, and calmly hinted that if I knew what he knew I would not be so sure of myself.
But here’s the thing… I didn’t want to know then. I imagined animals living on farms and eating grass and yes killing them was a sad thing but that’s what they were here for… right? Besides, I didn’t really like vegetables so much and people needed protein and everyone I knew ate meat but this guy so… he was the weird one.
As the years went by I continued to try to improve my health through exercise and a variety of fad eating plans like we do. Eat every two hours! Eat carbs every four days only! Don’t eat past 7:00! Track every bite you put in your mouth! Eat only these 3 specific meals over and over! And it got really old and nothing really ever worked anyway because it was all so unrealistic and just left me feeling frustrated and like a failure. I decided I did not want to count every calorie. I just wanted to eat healthy things and feel ok about myself.
Somewhere in all the reading I kind of accidentally discovered the truth about eating animals. I guess I always knew that it was weird we loved dogs and cats but ate pigs and cows, but I kind of categorized that and justified it by saying to myself that pigs are “eating animals” and dogs were “pets”. And we need meat right? Protein? We are supposed to eat animals…!
But why? (Plants have protein, FYI)
And even if I still believed that to be true, there is no way to justify the ungodly horrors that the meat, dairy, and egg industries impose on the animals while they live. I always thought the killing was the worst part. It’s not. That’s horrific and inhumane but over fairly quickly. It’s also the life of pain and misery that I can’t bear. It’s the fact that animals aren’t seen as living things in the factory farming culture. Animals are a means to a profit. You crowd as many into as small a space as you can. You beat them into their tiny stalls. You stack them so tightly they can’t turn around and they just have to walk over their dead. You take their babies and harvest the milk and pretend it’s all normal… and you make it so. No one knows or thinks about it because you package the meat and eggs and milk with happy farm pictures on them and lead everyone to believe it IS so.
There is such irony in seeing people consumed with dog and cat rescue who have no problem eating ham, burgers, and chicken. I got turned down for cat adoption recently because in the past I had a cat that lived inside and outside. This rescue would not even let me have a cat for fear it might ever in its life go outside. There are a million cats needing homes. Yet, my home was not good enough.
A cat could do far worse than life in the northern Atlanta suburbs with a loving family. Maybe a cat could visit a pig farm and see mother sows pressed into crates so small they can’t turn around. Maybe a cat could compare life in a cozy home to life as a piglet getting castrated without pain medicine or really much thought or care. Maybe a cat could compare its life exploring all three stories of my home with the life of a chicken having its beak seared off because it might peck other chickens in its tiny confinement. Or maybe the cat could compare itself to the male chicks who hatch and get thrown into the grinder alive. I mean– they can’t lay eggs so what is the point?
It’s seriously an animal holocaust. When you know, you can’t un-know. When you know, it seems silly to hear people say “I just really like meat” or “I just don’t like vegetables that much.” It just seems like eating a salad with no meat seems worth saving an animal a life of suffering. It doesn’t seem too much to ask.
I’m not perfect by any means. I know, though, that every choice I make is a choice for kindness or a choice to contribute to a nightmare. I know that, intelligence-wise, the dog I love and cuddle and dress in sweaters is no more or less intelligent than the pig who had its tail cut off (without painkillers) because the other pigs would be bored and chew it off in the tiny enclosure.
Your choices are yours and I don’t judge you. We each must weigh what we can accept. My family knows these things and chooses meat. I love my family. I hope one day they will all see that we can nourish ourselves and respect the lives of our fellow creatures. I hope one day the texture of a lettuce leaf will seem a small price to pay to save another being from the nightmare.
PS: . When you want to know, go to Mercy for Animals and follow them on Facebook. Google the video “Earthlings” on YouTube. Google “factory farming”. Read Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U. S. Meat Industry or CAFO: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories. Read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. It’s not hard to find if you open yourself to looking.
PPS: My sister Ellen says I should give options for sustainable meat and humane farms. I truly considered this request. I decided against it because that’s not my platform. I choose to avoid meat and eggs and I am working hard on avoiding dairy. For me, that’s easier and I don’t have to wonder how humane the humane farms really are. If you choose otherwise, certainly you can look for more humane farms. I look for them when choosing meat and dairy for my family. Some stores like Whole Foods label meat by the level of cruelty the animals endured. It’s more expensive, but you are using your dollars to show you care about the well-being of farm animals while they are alive.
