My Animal Rights View of Groundhog Day

Just a few observations... And this will be the last about death (for a while)... Because I come from a small family, it wasn't until I was well into my 30's that I had ever even gone to a wake, funeral or (human) burial.  I know now that I was spared much grief that others, with many older relatives weren't.  But I did come to learn that this kind of loss is like a chain... Each sorrow links to the one before.  When someone you love is taken from you - There's always the reminder of who has gone before.  I know mourning now... I miss those who aren't with me. When their deaths happened, I cried the tears, felt the sadness (and rage) at all death.  But then the mourning always seems to find a place, somewhere in the heart and mind.  It is there that peace is found and the living can get on with life once more.

This was not the same kind of grief I had when I became aware of the horrible mistreatment, deaths, killings, slaughter and murder of animals.  This was a much different, heavier loss, and anger.  I was so disappointed in myself for not realizing my part in the betrayal to animals sooner!  I found it as sickening to know I'd been an unwitting accomplice to treachery than the vile acts themselves.  The double lie magnified the evil of it all.  I saw in each new day how the world "blessed" the most unholy practices done to animals.  The world (my world) had become an unfamiliar and hostile place.  And in this way, it was a challenge to find that peace to put things in perspective - in the time-frame considered acceptable to experience grief.

The transition from grief is gradual, but inevitable.  Over time the raw reality and pain of loss begin to heal. There is the eventual consolation that "what's done, is done."  But with the grief I felt over the killing of innocent animals it wasn't ever, isn't ever, just so, finished and passed. The regret in their deaths is always felt original in it's source.

It's because everyday the holocaust on animals,  is a relentless repeat of the last. It's the un-funny version of Groundhog Day.  How many animals captured? Caged? Confined? Mutilated? Euthanized or butchered?  In the beginning, this new knowledge as to what specific, outrageous, unthinkable, monstrous acts were done to animals, had me startled from my sleep, with an urgency to find out what happened overnight. What damages were done while I found sweet relief from harsh troubles?  Was it a puppy mill found starving dogs?  A lab accused of beating their "subjects"? Did another warehouse full of pigs or chickens go up in flames? What circus was caught brutalizing elephants (again)? And ever present, was always the institutionalized "humane" killing of the docile farmed animals... And the spin from the industry that does such.

Aside from my resolve to not partake in these atrocities and to speak out against them at every turn - I also felt a compelling need to ally with others who did the same.  I had to align with those advocates who were trying to reach me, while I was still in my safe bubble of ignorance. I wanted to say "I'm here. I'm here!  I'm not blind, numb or emotionally dead anymore"!  These people, strangers before, became my support.  I wanted to be theirs as well... They became my soul Sisters and Brothers. My Comrades. My Family.

And so to this Family: In the depths of my deepest despair- whether on-line or not... Knowing you has made all the difference in the world to me.  My burdens are lessened.  My tears are not spilled without comfort.  Through the darkest place my consciousness has ever been - I found friends... I found hope. It would have been unbearable to carry on (another "Groundhog Day") without YOU!

What's the "Purpose" of a Butterfly?

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For the Birds - Mourning and The True Circle of Life

Not said in the usual manner... This post is "for the birds"!  On this Provoked entry I compared our reverence for the beautiful (wild) ones as opposed to the (invisible) "poultry" birds.  And I always thought that when I finally got around to the introspection of my own animal journey I would begin with my deep love for cows... or cats... or dogs.  But the truth should start with my first love of the winged creatures.

I have over the years collected figurines, plates, jewelry, ornaments and art of birds.  Cardinals, sparrows, storks, woodpeckers, owls, wrens... And flamingos:

And cranes, herons, gulls, and other water birds...

And these possessions of mine surrounded me as I prepared "chickens" for dinner... And delighted in eating "breasts" and "wings" for supper.  I wonder regretfully at my numb disconnect.  Loving a flock of beautiful hens now, I'm ever so sad (and sickened) at times... That I know how they taste.  It is something I can hardly forgive myself for.

But this personal post that is "for the birds" goes deeper than this... It is about my first recollection of an animal not through a photo but through the experience of loving one.  His name was Lucky.  I "won" Lucky when I was 7 years old at an amusement park "spin the wheel" game.  He was a brilliant chartruse plumed parakeet.  After school I would let him out of his cage and he'd fly all around his bigger "outside" home.  He'd land on my finger and allow me to caress his lace-like feathers.  Lucky was my first animal companion.  But he taught me more than the gentleness required to care for such a small and fragile being.  I learned more than sharing space and time with a friend.  He also instructed me on my first lessons of life and the inevitable loss that comes with it.

When I came home from school one day, as was my usual habit I went to free Lucky from his cage.  Such a shock for me when I saw him not perched and happily awaiting our flight and fun together.  But rather, I saw him lifeless at the bottom of the cage.  My poor heart was broken.  I never saw, or really comprehended death before.  And especially not death to my beloved little bird.  My Mother and I placed him in a box and found a suitable piece of ground to lay his body in.  I remember that we both cried... And we agreed that Lucky had gone to Heaven... And I thought then that this made perfect sense.  Birds wings can escape earthly bounds... Like angels - they could fly to God!

This naive introduction to death was a necessary part of my childhood.  It is how we grow and understand the realities of our physical limitations...  It helped me understand that bodies "end."  But there are many who wish to confuse death and killing as part of the same.  They will say that eating chickens (or peacocks) is the "circle of life."  They will even have classes and form groups with children to instruct them on the taking of chicken's lives... Some courageous young ones like Whitney Hillman speak out against these lessons in detachment.  But the point is, and I would have known this even as a 7 year old... That death, that we have no control over, is not the same as killing.  And that "the circle of life" should not be another's decision - Especially when the killer has everything to gain.  These are lies that the animal industries and an unthinking culture perpetuate in order to continue with their greed and unexamined ways.

What makes for a grievable life? from L.A. Watson on Vimeo.

So, I urge everyone who still eats "chickens"... If you marvel at the hummingbirds, swans, swifts, chickadees and the like - Please understand that these are all the same birds.  And if you love birds, know that they have the same desire to live as all of us.  All death is sad.  But all should have a right to die within his own time...

This post dedicated to Lucky... To Liz.. And to Pop.
~Go Vegan

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