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Monday, February 27, 2012

Outrage

I think for some reason, I feel like God has really been laying food on my heart.  Let me explain. Lately I've been very interested in finding recipes involving all natural ingredients, and trying to incorporate them into my life, with my limited budget. At first I was just think about it from the standpoint of my own personal health goals. I want to maintain my weight, keep a trim figure, so it makes sense to eat GOOD food, not all that processed artificial food that your body wasnt meant to consume.
But today my view on that matter has drastically changed, because my English teacher showed us a movie in class, called Food, Inc.
Which shocked, horrified, and terrified me.
Because from what I understood, it is so so true.

It was all about how none of us have any real idea about how our food is processed, how the animals are being treated, or the actual ingredients in our food. Anyone know what Xanthum Gum is? Yeah, i didn't either.
We look on the back of cereal boxes, and have the time there are these huge lists of chemicals, and we have no idea what they actually are. How could it possibly be a good idea to feed ourselves ingredients of which we are totally ignorant??
But the worst part for me was the images of animals.

Thousands of chicks being run down a conveyor belt as if they were not living, breathing animals, just merchendise, being tossed down chutes, then grabbed by their tiny necks and being stamped for identification.
Hundreds of adult chickens packed into tiny, windowless tunnel-like houses, filled with feces, pumped so full of antibiotics and growth hormones that their bodies are overdeveloped, and their feet cannot support their overgrown bodies.
They can't even walk. Then they are packed away  for slaughter, thrown roughly into tiny crates in trucks, just thrown, as if they were nothing but garbage.

Cows standing knee deep in their own feces, covered from head to toe in manure, forced unnaturally to eat corn instead of grass...It was one of the saddest and most heart wrenching sights I have ever seen.
How could this be happening?? How could any human be so heartless as to subject another living, breathing animal to that kind of treatment?

They aren't even recognised as animals anymore, they are crops, merchendise. The companies "grow chickens" (and this is a quote from a Tyson Chicken farmer), simply for their meat, and for money. They dont care what happens to them before or afterwards.
Some farmers do care, but they are so indepted to the large companies that they dont have any say in how the chickens are treated or raised.

All I am is a child of God. And it hurts my heart so much to see other members of God's creations being so exploited and mistreated. We are supposed to be the animals' CARETAKERS. Yet we have subjected them to mere merchendise, we figure its okay to do whatever we want to them, as long as WE get meat on the table.

I'm sorry. But God would not, and is not pleased, with how those animals are being treated. I know He has ordained for animals and plants to be our food. That's why I don't have a problem with eating meat perse. But I DO have a problem when I see how the food I am eating was treated when it was still alive. Just because we are allowed to eat them does not give us the right to mistreat them so horribly while they are in our care. They are so innocent, and they have no voice, and yet they are being treated like the scum of the earth.

That makes me really, really angry and sad. People freak out when a puppy has no home, or when a racehorse is put down simply for having a leg injury, as well they well they should. But why does nobody care about these cows, chickens, turkeys? Are they any less creations of God? Why are there rescues funds for dogs and cats and horses, but no one cares that there are thousands of cows standing knee deep in their own feces??

IT'S WRONG.

And I want so desperately to DO something, to somehow change what is happening, and I don't know how. I don't want to become like one of those paranoid PETA  membors, freaking out every time any animal is eaten.

But I cannot just ignore what I saw today, act like its not happening. Because it is. I've lived my life in ignorance of what I've been eating. And I'm going to try not to do that anymore. I will go to the grocery store, and instead of just picking the cheapest cereal, I will try to look through the ingredients, and see if I actually know what they are. I will try to buy free roam, antibiotic free eggs. I will try to get free range and organic meat whenever I can.

Honestly, at this point, most people become vegetarians, because they want to protest the animal cruelty. But honestly, I don't see how that would solve anything. i would be just one vegetarian among millions of avid meat consumers. It wouldn't put any kind of a dent in the meat production process.

So what I'm going to do, is try to support those who don't mistreat their animals as much as I can. Because I don't think the meat is the problem, the process is.

.....

That's all I have to say. Except that I hope you guys will go on youtube and watch Food Inc.

Ari

7 comments:

  1. We watched that video in health class when I was a junior...it made me want to go get a burger. Ha! I'm sorry *cough*. Not the point.
    I agree that animals are God's creation, and I never want to see them mistreated...but I often think to myself that our time is better spent advocating for the humans that have no voice: those that are abused, those that are enslaved, the unborn being murdered in the safest place on earth, their mothers' wombs. Animals are a blessing to us, a lovely gift from God, and we should absolutely treat them with kindness...but I'm reminded of something my pastor once said: "I don't like to see animals getting abused; it's unnecessary. But at the end, human souls are what matter; when an animal dies, it ends there. But when a human dies, it does NOT end." He was basically saying we should be putting our efforts into the people around us, as opposed to the *world* around us.
    Either way though, working through animals can be a calling from God, and a way to share the Good News. Who knows what He has in mind as we walk the paths of our lives? :)
    ~Lauren

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  2. I see your point, and I do agree, in the end, the human soul is what matters most...but at the same time I can't justify what I saw. Yes, the eternity of the human soul is very, very important...but at the same time, I can't, as a christian, just pass by or ignore the mistreatment of animals. When I watched that movie something inside me was screaming "This is NOT how it is supposed to be." I'm not saying I have the power to change it, or that I'm going to throw all my efforts into saving animals and ignore evangalism, I'm just saying that now that I know, I can't just forget it. Maybe my connenction is too emotional...I grew up around animals, around horses and cows and chickens, and it broke my heart to see them being treated like that. But I know that many people are being treated that way as well, and it also breaks my heart. Yes, the human is more a of a priority, but, let's just say I'm going to be eating alot less chicken from now on.

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  3. You know, I think it's neat to see how the Lord works. I put a blog post up about the conviction God has laid on my heart about the books and movies I watch, and I've gotten some argument over it; but I realize more now (as I had before) that He speaks to us all differently and about different things. It would seem that he speaks to your heart through animals, and He even *puts* them on your heart. I apologize if I sounded at all argumentative; who am I to question what the Lord puts on your heart? And it's good that you care, because not everyone does. The beauty of creation seems to be lost on a lot of people, and even to me sometimes...it's good to have an appreciation of it. :)
    ~Lauren

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  4. Oh its totally fine, we all see these things in different lights and in different perspectives, and talking about them can help us see things from different angles rather than just our own. God is cool like that :)

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  5. WOW...quite possibly one of the most though-provoking blog pieces I've read in quite some time. You're very talented and I can tell that you are very passionate about the things that you write about. May I follow your blog? Feel free to follow mine as well and keep up the good work!!

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  7. Of COURSE you can follow my blog, I would be thrilled if you did, and I'm so happy you enjoyed my post :)

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