I have been visiting a local butcher regularly for a couple of years. There is one man who works there who seems quite unhappy and unwell and when I ask “how are you” he just shrugs his shoulders and doesn’t really respond. I felt uncomfortable with this and found myself thinking “I hope he doesn’t serve me” Last week he did serve me and I bought a lovely selection of fresh organ meats, lamb kidneys and heart and sweetbreads. I was speaking with him and said my dad would be proud of me for eating so much of the good stuff. The butcher said he couldn’t eat any of it (I was thinking it was just what he needed to become healthier) and told me it was because he had spent too many years working in the slaughter house and he couldn’t eat it anymore. I walked away feeling sadness that this man had given he best years of his life killing our food for us to just walk in and buy it from the display cabinet without really experiencing how it gets there. I also had feelings of dissapointment that I am disconnected from my food source and someone else has to do it for me. I now feel incredibly grateful that this man (and many others like him) has given so much to me and I owe him many thanks, he is a superhero, a warrior who is becoming an elder and deserves to be treated with much respect. Next time I enter the shop I hope he serves me so I can share some of my appreciation with him, shine my light and hopefully add some cheer to his day.
About the Author...
I am Wendyela and I am feeling grateful to live in the very beautiful Byron Bay. At the moment I am a filmmaker, childcarer and puppeteer. I have spent the last 6 months emerging from chronic Colitis and becoming strong, fit and healthy after changing to a nourishing, traditional diet, yum… I experience amazing journeys honoring our life giving water and I would love to share my delicious life with you
Dec 3rd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I was trying to find the part in the bible that talks about sharing the job of slaughter. I couldn’t. Does anyone know more about this?
What if instead of every young person giving a year of their life to war like some countries, they give a year learning to kill our food with dignity.
Killing is a burden we could all carry.
Dec 3rd, 2008 at 4:58 pm
wow, quite an intense interaction. I too had a friend who worked in a slaughterhouse and he went vegetarian not long after due to the disgusting conditions and cruelty he observed. Not all slaughterhouses are like that of course, and there are regulations that aim to prevent nasty things, but it still goes on.
Joanne, do you know much about what regulations there are on slaughterhouses? I have emailed some organic meat producers and they say that organic certified animals have to be slaughtered in places that have stricter standards? Does anyone know much more about this?
I am facinated as an ex-veggo and animal rights activist (still very into animal rights, just from a very different perspective these days) about how we can be sure that the animals we eat do live a life with as much dignity as we can give them….
And I agree with those sentiments about not sending people to war but teaching them how to kill food with dignity, amazes me how many meat eaters I know get so squemish about even seeing a mouse getting eaten by a cat, let alone acknowledge the suffering they eat when they have their factory raised pork.
Great little story, thanks for sharing !
Dec 11th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Well, how’s that for yin & yang: “Learning to kill our food with dignity.” Please describe this dignified method of killing to me.
Dec 12th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Sounds like a great idea. Instead of military service (many countries have mandatory service for young men after high school) they could live on a farm for a year learning how to take care of the land and the animals.
Feb 23rd, 2009 at 3:30 pm
I have been asked to go and work for an organic chicken farmer to ‘process’ the birds in June so I will let you know how its done