Earthlings

I don't understand.  That's the first coherent thought I could make out after watching Earthlings.  It wasn't the first thought but it certainly was the first well-formed one.  Before that it was just a jumble of emotions and pain.  I'm usually not one who gets upset easily by such videos.  Sure, Food Inc. made me cringe a bit but I didn't stop eating my favorite foods.  I've done plenty of studying of the subject matter in my environmental science class last year, but nothing was quite as explosive as this.

I think what really cut me deepest was the very first segment, that on pets.  I've been through some personal trauma of my own in this respect and hearing the statistics only brought back up my recent pain.


"An estimated 25 million animals become homeless every year. And as many as 27% of purebred dogs are among the homeless." (transcript; http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/Earthlingstranscript.htm)


My dog, my first dog that really connected to me, was a purebred German short-haired pointer.  We found her as a (you guessed it) neighborhood stray.  Apparently she'd been wandering through backyards for quite some time.  She was a beautiful dog, she was just gun shy.  We think that's why she was a tramp- the owner probably took her out for hunting training and went the gun went off, she did too.  I guess the guy never bothered to look for her.  Not that I'm complaining, she was the love of my life.  I remember how I wooed her with a piece of cheese and she spent the first night under my window.  My parents had to let me keep her after that point.  I named her Rosie, I'm not even sure why.  And over the years it morphed into "Rosie-pose," "Rosarita," "Rosie-girl," and many others besides.

I've never been overly affectionate or need company to feel comfortable.  In fact, I tend to function much better on my own.  But losing Rosie taught me that was all just a front.  I didn't know I could lose someone who meant that much to me.  I didn't know the pain would go on for what seemed like forever.


I know I touched on it in my Road Map slide, but I didn't really cover what happened.  How I was studying for my AP English test when my mom came in my room and said Rosie wasn't coming when she called.  I went on the back porch to whistle for her.  I waited about five minutes, figured she had found some treed squirrel, and went back inside.  It wasn't long after that my mom came in y room and told me that she found Rosie and she was dead.


Just like that.


I remember walking, maybe running, to the back yard and thinking this was all a terrible joke.  It wasn't. My dad was kneeling over her body, petting her still warm head.  After that, my memory just goes to bits and pieces.  Crying.  Lots of sobbing really.  My head started to play through everything I'd seen her do: chase bees, cuddle with me by the fireplace, run out to greet the bus, swimming in Lake Travis.  Each memory turned into a shard of glass that cut me to the very core.  And the worst part was seeing how she collapsed.  The direction of her head; she was heading towards the back porch.  She was heading towards me.


I'm not just sharing this because of her original status as a stray dog.  I more want to touch on the afterwards.  On what happened after we found her.  My dad and I both went to the front yard where she liked to hunt in the tall grass and dug a hole.  Not neighborhood-regulations official, but we weren't sending her away.  It was hard work and it helped ease the physical tension.  I was still crying but that didn't end for several months anyways (I still don't think it has).  And when it was deep enough, we carried her body across the yard in an old towel and carefully lowered her in.  It was hard to wrap her up for a final time and begin to replace the dirt.  It was beyond hard.  But when we finished, it felt final.  It felt like we had given her a proper farewell.

I think that's something that's missing in today's world.  We're so far away from death and suffering.  It's all hidden away behind closed doors, whether in the hospital or at the vet.  People are concerned about growing violence because of video games or graphic movies but we don't children how to properly handle death.  Instead, we over-react and dress it all up.  "Oh no honey, Fido's just taking a nap."  "Jack had to go away sweetie."  We think were protecting them, but we're only delaying the inevitable which will cause them even more grief.  To be an active part of the last rites for a loved one is one of the most important duties we have.  While I don't agree with Earthlings statement that if we had to kill our meat we'd all be vegetarians, I think we certainly would have a greater respect for all life.

The way slaughter houses and cafos (concentrated animal feeding operations) are run is technically inefficient and inhumane in its practices.  It's neither good for the cattle farmers who must pay for expensive antibiotics and still lose animals from preventable disease, nor for us humans who ingest meat stuffed with god-knows how many drugs and treatments.  It's a no-win scenario, so why are we still at it?

http://www.blueplanetgreenliving.com/tag/cafos/

There are so many problems with the modern society's means of food consumption.  It goes back to health problems, environmental issues, humane-treatment concerns, economic costs and so much besides.  And while we can't change it all at one, is it so much to ask to give these dying animals a bit of dignity in their last moments?