Windy Sydney

Some of the stuff I say in this post might be hard to read. I say this because I couldn't stop crying when I heard the stories... it's only fair that I give you warning ahead of time. If you don't feel like getting emotional, you might want to stop reading right now.

Yesterday evening, my Mom and I went to Dairy Queen to get some dinner. She is up for a visit and to see her new house (she is going to be living a block from me... how cool is that?). We started talking about how much I spoil my cats, and she told me that she thought it was cool that I cared so much about them. She then had a few stories to share from her childhood... again... let me warn ya, it's not pretty.

When she was a child, she loved animals very much. She still does. She would get emotionally attached quickly, and immediately feel that she needed to protect them. Well... some of them needed protecting.. and no one was there to help.

Turns out, she had a neighbor who would drown all the kittens that the neighbor's cat had instead of getting her cat fixed. I know that spaying and neutering were not as common when Mom was small, but I can't get over how horrible and scared these little creatures were. My heart is breaking right now for them, and their momma-cat. The word cruel doesn't even come close to showing the lack of empathy and compassion required to hurt such small and helpless animals. They were just babies! God!

We then got to talking about how I was a vegetarian for a couple years when I was in high school. I told Mom that the reason I wanted to stop eating meat was because of the way the animals were being treated. Chickens being locked up in cages, stuffed together so they can barely move, and then when it comes time for them to be killed, the process takes an uglier turn. I was told that a machine would take the chicken and slit it's throat. When the chicken died it was dipped into some kind of liquid. Sometimes the slitting of the throat didn't work as it should. These injured chickens were then dumped into liquid, and then died a much slower and painful death than necessary.

I guess I just don't understand how a human being can look into the eyes of an animal and know that there is a soul there. A soul that feels, hurts, becomes scared... loves. How could we as a society let things like this happen? What is stopping us from making sure these animals lived a good life and then were humanely killed? Nothing. Wait... money. Yeah. Money.

It would cost too much money to implement this kind of thing. To have people who inspect food plants just to check for animal cruelty. The businesses would lose some of their profits, and that is the bottom line. It's sick to me that money means more than a living, breathing creature.

Mom went on to tell me some of the other things she saw when she was tiny. My grandfather would cut off the tails of all of his dogs. Why? Just because they wagged their tails? Did it annoy him to have that tail tap against his leg? Why subject an animal to pain like that if it wasn't necessary for their own survival? I just don't get it. What the hell is wrong with these people?

The conversation then turned to hunting. Mom isn't completely against it, but I certainly don't see how hunting is a sport. It's an over-used analogy, but I will say it anyway... The only way hunting could be a sport is to give the animal the same gun that you have.

A long time ago I had a talk with a co-worker of mine in Orlando about hunting. He told me that he had only gone once, and he vowed never to do it again. I asked him why (of course) and he told me that once he shot the deer, he heard it cry.

I know there are people out there who genuinely believe that it's a natural thing to do... and I don't think I would have a problem with it if we really NEEDED their meat to survive. Trouble is, we don't. We have evolved into a society where we can walk down the street and purchase the fruits, vegetables and grains we need to survive. Do you really need that deer meat? Really? No. You would get along quite well without it.

I am going to try and do the vegetarian thing again. I know it's going to be hard, because frankly... I like my meat. I will take a hamburger, or a crispy chicken sandwich from McDonald's and be a happy girl. I just don't think I could take another bite without first realizing that the animal I was eating might have had a horrific life and death.

Sigh.

Until next time...
Andee