Anxious Dreams about Steel Bolts and Esther the Wonder Pig
Last night I had a lot of anxious dreams.
I usually don’t stay up at night thinking and stressing about things, but last night I did. I failed a test and that put my mind into a spin.
Right before I went to bed I started thinking about how there were pigs right now waiting to be slaughtered. I had this revelation. I can’t believe it’s real. I can’t believe it’s going to happen. I can’t believe it is happening right now!
I know it’s obvious, but I’m so removed from it…I guess in my half dream state I had forgot that this was oh so real. Murders were going on and would continue to go on now, tomorrow and the next day.
In my dream, when I finally fell asleep I dreamed I was being chased by people with guns who were shooting me and my friends. I eventually managed to get a gun, but I couldn’t figure out how to cock it or whatever. I eventually ended up having to shoot the attacker in self defense. It was the image from the cow slaughterhouse in ghosts in the machine, a steel bolt through the forehead.
This morning I was looking at Facebook and saw posts from Toronto Pig Save about how some guys in an SUV rolled down their windows and threw a piece of bacon at them while they were holding a vigil.
In a beautiful move, the activists buried the piece of bacon.
It reminded me of something I had to read in school a few times, the Ancient Greek tragedy Antigone.
This princess is obsessed with giving her brother who rebelled against the state a proper burial. He was her brother and she loved him. But the king forbid it under penalty of death.
She buries him anyway knowing the price is death.
The activists gave that pig that people reduce to a joke and a piece of bacon a proper burial. They showed the dignity of every life, no matter how trivial it may seem to most to bury a piece of bacon.
I thought it was a beautiful act.
Sometimes at night when i am curled into my covers in my nest of pillows, I get an image of Esther the Wonder Pig in my mind, nestled into her couch with a pig smile on her face and a look of utter contentment. And I feel that I am feeling the exact same emotion, and I know we are the same.
When I look at pictures of Esther the Wonder Pig on Facebook, I often wonder about her. She looks so intelligent, but is so different than us. I wonder what goes on in her mind. And I marvel at the privilege we have to share our lives with other mysterious beings, with mysterious intelligences.
It really is a privilege to share our lives with animals, so much more connected to nature and to our roots and their instincts.
I think it is wonderful. Why do we abuse that. Why do we kill them. I don’t get it.
At lunch the other day, i ate with a vegetarian. We were talking about veganism, and she was saying how she doesn’t eat meat from animals that are smart unlike chickens and unless she knows they were local, sustainably and organically raised.
I struggled figuring out what to do. I wished I had been able to totally refute her in a non confrontational way, but I didn’t want to spend the whole lunch trying to get her to change her ways and understand the immorality of killing based on intelligence levels.
So I just put in a few good words where I could. It’s hard to confront. With her I realized she had just not seen the light yet. I tried to tell her about Toronto Pig Save and she was very receptive.
Is everyone like that? Could the world be changed just by bearing witness? Just by people finally seeing the light?
Or are their darker forces of evil at work. Are there people who hate animals. Who don’t understand animals and don’t respect them.
The anti-animal lovers of the world.
I am an animal lover and always have been. But some people don’t like animals. Maybe they are scared of them. Maybe they are not gentle personalities like I think I am. I think that gives me an edge with animals because I am calm and sensitive and I think they like that and sense I understand them. But some people have no interest in animals.
I don’t know, it is just troubling, is it not?
It is getting to me today.
Have you guys been struggling with thinking about animal rights at all lately? Please share. I’d love to hear what you are worried about lately.
I share the same feelings as you. I think of the suffering all farm animals are going through, when I’m at home cozy with my 2 dogs, 1 cat, 1 fish and 1 pigeon. I’m a vegan, I do not eat meat since childhood. I wish I had powerful to stop animal HOLOCAUST now!
Thank you Lorena. I am so with you. <3 <3 <3
Your description of our mystical connection to animals put into words how I feel. I ate meat my whole life and only this year made the connection between animals and the food on my plate. I guess I always averted my mind and sight from the truth. As you said, it hurts so much to know what is occurring in slaughterhouses right this moment. I love Esther and hope she will awaken many to the horror we have allowed big agriculture to become.
Thank you Cindy. I loved reading your comment. I’ve only been vegan for 1 year and a half…before that I was vegetarian but I definitely always averted my mind and sight from the truth. Once you start seeing it, it is hard to deal with it. and so many people still have not “got it” yet. But i agree, esther is affecting a lot of people and I think society is changing…and eventually “the day will come when people will look upon the murder of animals as they look upon the murder of men” –leo da vinci. u know? Thank you <3 <3 <3
(I meant *last year* not this year…I forgot it’s 2014!)
One of the things you could bring up with your vegetarian friend is that there are mentally challenged folks who alive right now. Does she think we should kill them because they are less intelligent than us? Another thing would be to reference the The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness.
Thanks Kim. That’s what I always think to myself, yeah. I will look into the Cambridge Declaration of Consciousness. I have never actually read it. Thank you, as always, for your feedback! <3