I haven’t been inspired to
write lately. Doesn’t really make sense
when writing is one of my joys. But, one
of the earth’s tiny creatures inspired me today when I was doing the
dishes. There was a spider hiding behind
our dish sponge. When I picked up the
sponge, he ran under an upside down bowl and hid. He was peeking out from under the bowl and I
saw he was too frightened to come out while I was staring at him. I moved back and he came out from under the
bowl looking around to make sure the giant threat (me) wasn’t there. I came back to the sink a little later
thinking he was gone. I started the
dishes again and he ran out from under the dish drainer. It was unmistakable that what he was feeling
was fear. I am not anthropomorphizing
here. When a living being runs away from
a threat, it is a desire to live and a fear of being hurt that motivates
them.
During the spider incident, I
felt how strong my desire was to not cause fear in another being. When we are working as a voice for other
living beings we often try to get people to examine the suffering their actions
may be supporting. Those wanting to
discount the suffering of other beings often argue that we don’t really know if
these beings are suffering or we are told that they were treated “humanely”
before their “one bad day”.
If I did a random sampling
and asked people, “Would you want to cause fear in someone else?” Most reasonable humans would answer
“No”. If I asked if they would be
willing to cause fear in someone else if they were different physically or
culturally, again a reasonably kind human would answer “No”.
But, everyday, otherwise
caring humans around the globe are directly or indirectly causing fear in other
individuals because they are different physically and/or culturally.
In a recently released film
called Unity there is footage from
France of two steers (?) in a concrete chute about to be slaughtered. You don’t see the actual slaughter in this
footage. What you see is one of them
being forced to move forward and a sliding metal door separating the one
waiting from the one being killed. The
one waiting knows what’s coming and begins panicking and trying to escape. The fear in his actions and his eyes is
unmistakable. He tries to pull his
enormous body over the top of the concrete chute. Everyone I have talked to who saw this film
with all of its graphic and violent footage says that the scene with the
frightened steer is the most difficult and heartbreaking. Why?
Could it be because they can feel the fear in that animal and relate to
feeling absolutely terror and helplessness? When I first saw this footage I
felt like I was inside that terrified being and I was sick with fear and
sadness.
Here is a link to the 2 minutes of footage:
https://youtu.be/ido7N5-hmQw
Last week I visited my old
stomping grounds in Maine. I was
surprised and saddened to learn that many of the folks who were once ethical vegans
are now eating meat. When asked why they
went back to eating meat and other animal products, their answer is about
wanting to eat locally. I know some of
these ex-vegans. These are caring people who try to do the right thing. A few of them have worked in animal rights
and education work. Some ran
sanctuaries. Somehow the justification
of “eating locally” has over-ridden their knowledge of the issues and their
compassionate choices.
What I know about these folks
is that if I asked them if they would knowingly cause fear in someone else,
they would say “no”. I also know that
they, like many people who use the “eating locally” reasoning, will eat meat
and other animal products that are not actually locally sourced. Once they open that door to supporting animal
agriculture, I am guessing that they stop questioning the reality of what they
are doing.
I can guarantee that each of
these ex-vegans would never do anything to knowingly cause fear in another
human, a dog, a cat, a monkey or any being whom they do not think of as
“food”. If they saw a cowering dog being
threatened by a human, they would step in to help that dog. But the same fear in a being who will be
their meal and they choose not to intervene.
And, in fact, they choose to slaughter that being or pay someone else to
slaughter that being.
So, how do we re-connect
people with their most compassionate empathetic selves? These are not people who are unaware of the
realities. They have turned their backs
on the realities and on the fear and violence they are now supporting. I don’t know the answer. I want to be able to sit with them and ask
them if they would knowingly cause fear in someone else’s life.
No matter the size of that
someone…from the smallest insect to the largest mammal….we all want to live and
we all feel fear in the face of a threat.
I know that there is no way
to open up someone else’s heart. Mostly,
what I want, is to understand what makes someone’s perceptions change to the
point of turning away from a choice that was once at their core. Thinking back
on my visit to Maine last week, I wish I had visited with some of the ex-vegans
there. I wish I had some slow mindful
time with them to ask questions and to understand more of their process and
path. My next visit, I will do
that. In the mean time, if you know of
someone who was once practicing ethical veganism and is now eating animal
products, can you inquire for me? Can
you send me their response? Please do
this in a non-judgmental way.
For every being, large and
small, I want to thank you for helping me gain some insight into this. And to that kitchen sink spider, thank you
for starting my thought process around fear.
