I think of your sorrow
and of my own
and my troubles to come
but the news burbles on
in the background
a constant horror
what have I got to cry about?
there are no bombs in my street
my kids are nearby
I still have a floor under my feet
the tap gives me water
there’s no blood at my gate
or local slaughter
babies are born in this town
they survive
they have love
I’m alive
slaughter
Chicken Slaugher
On my first visit to Morocco I wanted to buy a chicken for a dinner for friends.When I asked for advice on where to buy one I was asked,
”You would like a white one or a brown one?”
I said ”Oh just a fresh one, not a frozen one”
So I was taken to a shop where the chickens were so fresh they were still alive. They sat comfortably in fairly spacious cages lining the walls of the little shop. The man sold nothing but chickens.
I said to my guide, ”I don’t want a live chicken. It’s for dinner”
He said ”Choose one. The man will kill it”
I had qualms about this but resolved that, if I wanted to eat it, it was rather hypocritical not to see it killed. So I just said, ”Any chicken” because I still didn’t want to issue the death sentence and prefered to leave that to fate.
I also decided that I would not look away.
The man went calmly and caressingly, peacefully selected a chicken and held it under his arm like an embrace, speaking to it all the time. The chicken remained calm. In a rapid gesture the man cleanly slit its throat. No squawking. No fuss. That was that.
When I went home to the UK I told my friends about this. Most of them expressed revulsion despite my careful description of the event and its humane nature.
Now – I ask you to stop and think.
Think of the type of slaughter we allow. Think of factory farms. Think of disgraceful methods of slaughter that go on every day on a mass scale.
If you are a vegetarian I recommend that you don’t view this accompanying video (link below). If you think our slaughter methods are humane watch it and see what effect seeing it has on you (but be warned that it’s horrific). This was clearly not filmed in the UK but we do have factory farms here and our meat arrives from everywhere. Judging by the mass production of our meat I, for one, will not, in future, eat anything that I have not seen killed and if you want animals to be treated properly you might want to do the same. I go further than that. No meat at all because the ONLY way to truly stop this is not to PAY for it.
Watch the film or not as you wish. The first half is not unpleasant (it is just the reaction of people being shown the video). The second half (of which you will be warned before it begins) is a souless, mindless, totally disrespectful and disgusting disregard for animals and, in a sense, nature as a whole. If you like animals at all you wont want meat after this. This video shows chicks, chickens, calves, pigs and piglets.
The Dreaming Path 