I finally did it...

I kid. This picture did inspire me quite a while ago but I have been holding off on this post for months now because I know it showcases my crazy. I can no longer help myself so here goes. I have a HUGE issue with cattle trucks. There I said it. They say admitting you have a problem is the first step. I don’t feel any better. I have always had this really profound distaste for the treatment, housing conditions and slaughter practices of animals. I understand that back in the day it was necessary to kill our furry friends to keep alive but today we know so much more about meat consumption, hormones and disease that you would think we would be smarter. The average person has 5 pounds of undigested red meat in their bowels when they die. That is for AVERAGE people. What about people like Dan and my dad who eat 5-7 meals consisting of red meat weekly?

Growing up my nickname was Piggy. My favorite stuffed animal was my Ms. Piggy doll. It started a natural collection of pig figurines from my family. As I got older and understood how pigs actually live and die I was beside myself. In 1995 I decided to give up meat entirely. I was overweight and disgusted with my food choices up to that point. I remember my parents being angry at first but finally relaxing and accepting my decision but never catering to it. My mother still makes pork roast, pork steaks (big in the Lou), pork butt or piggy brisket. All the while affectionately calling me “piggy”. She does not cook me anything special. Most of the time she actually tries to serve me the swine.

I was off the meat entirely for about a year and I dropped significant weight (read ahead before you try this at home). So significant, in fact, that it concerned my doctor who ordered a colonoscopy. That is another blog in itself but I was diagnosed shortly after with Crohn’s Disease. I can’t say that my giving up meat was the definite reason I got Crohn’s but it did not help for me to change up the chemicals in my body so rapidly. I started eating very small amounts of red meat again for protein.

On to my real reason for posting, on my drive home I see an average of 2 cattle trucks per week. Sometimes they are empty and sometimes not. I try not to look because it is absolute torture for me to see the poor animals all cooped up with their own feces’ heading to slaughter. I actually touched on the subject in this post about my quirks that seem a bit crazy to me. Dan thinks that I am absolutely nuts when the subject comes up or, God forbid, he is with me when I pull up to a Killer Truck, as I affectionately refer to them. The worst was a few weeks ago when, try as I might, I could not stop myself from looking. I thought I was in the clear and the truck was empty but lo and behold once I got up next to it I realized that it was carrying little piglets with their cute little snouts poking out of the killer truck holes. I DIED.

I do, in fact, think often about just running them off of the road. They can die on impact or face a worse fate. Then I think about waste. If you are going to kill an animal you should use it for all that you can. The Indians (Native Americans) had the right idea by respecting the animal and not wasting. I realize that running the cattle truck off the road would be a waste, not to mention probably really hurt some killer-person and/or killer-company’s bottom line. And yes, I do still mouth “killer” to the driver if I happen to catch his eye. It is nothing personal. So my thought is that I will give up cow again. I really only eat fillet and the occasional ground beef in tacos or spaghetti. I don’t know what will make the pain go away. Gandhi said “Be the change you wish to see in the world” so I guess until I find a way to free the cattle I will at least give up that medium rare fillet. It hurts me but not as bad as seeing the Killer Trucks. You have to admit. Isn’t that cow so super cute freeing himself from slaughter in the photo above?