animal rights

A Spiritual Experience: I Was a Pig in the Death Trucks

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Tonight I had an interesting spiritual experience of sorts.

I had just had dinner with my sisters and friend, and was riding in a taxi back to my apt.

It had just rained and it was warm and beautiful out.

kodak-zi6-rainy-night

I remember relaxing back into the seat and for some reason, instead of looking at my phone I felt like just enjoying the moment.

I relaxed into the seat and turned my head out the window and let the beautiful breeze rush over my face.

I started gettting lost in the moment and suddenly, like in a dream, I felt reality becoming blurred and I had a vision of my dogs and how they used to love to stick their head out the window. Sort of like how when you are doing a truly perfect impression of someone, and for a second you BECOME that person, in that moment I became my dog, sticking his head out the window, taking in the beauty of life.

I felt exactly like he used to look.

Then I remembered this picture I had seen of a pig sticking his head out the window of the transport trucks. The death trucks, as Toronto Pig Save so aptly calls them. The photo has always stayed with me, because that pig looks exactly like a dog taking in the beauty of life out the window of a car.

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For a moment then, I became that pig.

Then I kind of startled myself out of my reverie.

I was shocked to realize that I was also in the death truck.

I had a kind of spiritual revelation in that moment, that what I felt– the wind and the smell of the world after it rains, the breeze rushing over my skin…. that is EXACTLY what it feels like to be a pig.

And for a second I had a flash of insight.

That is exactly what it feels when a pig sticks its head out the window and enjoys the breeze…

on the way to the slaughterhouse.

In a way I can’t even quite articulate, I FELT in that moment that not only were those pigs LIKE me, they were exactly like me. They felt the breeze and enjoyed their life exactly like I was feeling the breeze and enjoying my life.

I know it doesn’t make sense. But I had this spiritual experience of sorts in the taxi.

I was a pig in the death trucks.

 

 

I OBJECT! : A Letter From a Blind Man who Can Now See

The other day I met up with an old friend for coffee/dessert. She suggested a place and I agreed. While I was waiting for her to get there, I looked at the menu.

I had to take a picture.

Calves’ liver. Really??

Not just one calf ‘s but calves’ even??

As I checked out my pic, I realized. It wasn’t just calves’ liver.

It was lamb burger.

it was cows.

chickens

pigs

salmons

tunas

The entire F-ing menu was made up of animals. Was made up of death. Was made up of Lives.

And it wasn’t just one of each. It struck me as well that every time someone ordered an item of the menu, it was a different life. A different someone. A different misunderstood enslaved animal.

They were animals who wanted to live. Animals who fought with their last breath to survive. Animals with families. Animals with friends in their factory farms that they died with.

Honestly this is just incredible.

It’s incredible that in every single menu all around the world, there are these same dishes staring diners in the face. Every night. Every day. We see bacon, hamburger, calves’ liver even STARING us in the face.

And yet we don’t see it at all.

We don’t see that there is anything wrong with this. We think it is perfectly ok.

We are so blinded to such an enormous evil to the point where even when we’re looking straight at it we can’t see it.

It’s kind of twisted and sick, isn’t it? It’s very sci-fi movie where our brains have been taken over.

Taken over by what though? I have begun to see this as well.

Marketing.

Oh yes. Free range, Local, Sustainable, Heirloom, Antibiotic free, Organic humanely raised meat. I see it wherever I go now. Signs that say “All our meat is local and hormone free. Plus it’s organic so you can rest easy”. Or whatever.

“Plus it’s organic.”

They forgot to add one other “plus”.

Plus, it was alive. Plus it was tortured. Plus it fought to live. Plus it had a family. Plus it had a life.

How can we disrespect LIFE so much. How can we disrespect FREEDOM so much.

It’s so wrong.

And yet hardly any of us can see it. All around us. Every day.

Somehow I feel we’ve been brainwashed and tricked into disrespecting LIFE ITSELF and everything beautiful and good in it.

This isn’t science fiction. We are really brainwashed.

Luckily, every day more and more people are waking up and “seeing the ghosts“.

I know I am. I have.