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Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Speak out: On being cruel free
By Glenn Lim Kenrich Dev. Corp.
Mandaue City
A blood-curdling scream pierced the tranquility of the night. I thought it came from an adult hog.
I could just picture this scene: people pushing and pulling the hog into the slaughter place.
With front and hind legs firmly bound, the hog is helpless. Instinctively, it struggles to be free.
It knows something very bad will happen. It grunts and cringes hoping its captors would give up or change their minds.
But it is all in vain. Despite the struggle and the cries of fear, the people mercilessly hold the hog down.
I could not say when the knife found its mark. But from the screams, there’s no doubt the hog is now being cut while fully conscious.
Causing pain
As somebody once said, “If slaughterhouses have glass walls, we would all be vegetarians.”
We are the master specie. We rule the earth as if we own it.
Yes, we have gone a long way from our primitive past. We have outlawed slavery and forced labor.
We condemn killings and torture. We fight against those who cause pain and suffering.
But are we really morally and ethically right in the way we live? Can we honestly say we no longer cause pain and suffering?
Holocaust
We all know how the Nazis in World War II crammed millions of Jews into trains and trailers bound for death camps. There, Jews were segregated, sorted and cold-bloodedly murdered.
The Holocaust remains to be a chilling reminder of man’s inhumanity to their fellow men.
How could humans be capable of such savagery and cruelty? How could they have no mercy and compassion in their hearts?
Yet we are no different from the Nazis. We also have no mercy and compassion in our hearts.
We only see the thick juicy burger, crunchy chicken or appetizing lechon in our plates and turn a blind eye to the horror stories behind every meal.
Everyday, millions of animals, fully conscious, are forcibly crammed into trailers and trucks and herded off to slaughterhouses.
There, the killing never stops.
Humans monitor progress and talk about their families unmindful of the struggles, agony and screams of animals in the throes of death.
Hogs and cows are hoisted up the air by hooks piercing their flesh then their throats are slit.
Some say chickens are slammed into walls or dipped in boiling hot water.
Fully conscious.
Choice
How can we justify such actions? How can it be ethically and morally right?
It is not easy to skip meat when you have been eating it since you were born. But you now have a choice.
For starters, have seafood instead in your next meal. Fish also have lives, but at least you don’t hear them scream.
Take in more vegetables and fruits. These are definitely better for your health.
Treat your pets well. Remember animals breathe, feel pain and live just like us.
As humans, we have the power to change things and right what is wrong.
We can choose to live, cruel free.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (August 23, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
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