14/12/10
From peace to violence
Driving to Safeway today I passed a sign bearing the words Peace, Joy and Love.
Inside the supermarket, however, I was confronted with a different message - Violence, Cruelty and Indifference.
In their short, tragic lives the stack of plastic wrapped "Christmas turkeys" confronting me would have been subjected to unimaginable pain and brutality. As chicks they would have had their toes and beaks agonizingly sliced off before being imprisoned in dark, warehouses with up to 14,000 other birds. As they grew, so too would the stench, and the ever increasing ammonia would have burned their eyes and lungs. Their living space would have rapidly diminished until in the end, they would have barely had space to move. Denied all semblance of a natural life, their only glimpse of their beautiful world would have been on the day they were stuffed into crates and transported to the killing factory where they would have endured a terrifying, cruel and painful death.
How many Christians will be buying these turkeys - in other words, paying for someone to carry out this abuse? And why do so many fail to see the irony in partaking in violence and cruelty to celebrate a time of peace and goodwill?
Doesn't this turn Christmas into a sham?
Isn't it time to say no to Christmas cruelty and yes to Christmas kindness by serving humanely derived non-animal fare only?
| 