I have to share a personal experience I had the other night, and what it meant to me- as well as what I plan to do about it.
I was leaving the local gas station, which is close enough to the freeway that it has a specific, different area for trucks to pump diesel. A truck was there, and it happened to be full of cows.
Now the imagery of any feeling being bunched onto a truck headed for slaughter is, and I think should be, problematic. But in that moment, I saw one of the cows looking at me.
My impulse was the same as with most any other critter looking at me in a not-unfriendly way: I wanted to give it treats and scritches. I specifically had an impulse to go back in, get something to feed the moo cow, and then attempt to befriend it.
And I have been struggling ever since with the dichotomy of that and my American, beef-heavy diet. I wasn't unaware of the beef industry's shenanigans before, but this experience put a face to the concepts. I can't justify it.
I started by just wanting to kill less every day. It was the eyes that got me too :)
@aspecurian Chicken became a rarity for me after I learned more about how they're produced. 😬
@kel Oh, I know it's gross AF. I just have an easier time with that than the cows.
@LnzyHou I could see USING one of those to polish a table... Or dust the cupboards 😂
@aspecurian I'm a veggie. Every time I see one of those cattle trucks on the road, it breaks my heart. I see sadness and pain in their eyes. As if THEY know where they're going. I just want to set them free. I apologize to them profusely as they pass us. Makes me sooo sad and takes me a long while to recover.
@Kittiekatt53 We definitely need to stop breeding so many of them, and start treating the ones we have better. Not a fix but definitely a good start. Happy cows make better milk anyway!
I'm not going full vegan or anything by any means. For one, dairy is awesome. I'll probably even still eat beef occasionally- but I am definitely going to be a lot more aware of my consumption- and there will be less of it.
Pigs too.
Chickens? I'm on the fence. They're literally little dinosaurs and would gladly- GLADLY eat us if the sizes were reversed. 😮