I have so many things to say right now, where do I begin?
Let's start with Obama. I am so glad we just elected a rock star of a president. I found out at 6am the next morning and I was as happy as a 6 year old on Christmas. What I am even happier about is that he did not just barely win, he took the polls by storm. This was not an election that left half of the country grumbling, it showed the world just how ready the American citizens are to start cleaning up this horrible mess that we've made. So way to go America. I was never ready to pack up and head to Canada, I was ready to stand by and defend the fact that not all of us are represented by the current government. I think we are finally working towards a government I'll be proud to call my own. I didn't want to hang out with a bunch of stinky Canadians anyway. My only regret is that I now know that my life dreams of burning a draft card will not be coming true. A small price to pay I suppose.
Moving on to the chickens. A little while before I got here a chicken was injured in the gate to its pen. We think it broke its neck. It was moved to the greenhouse to heal in peace. We did an OK job of making sure it had food and water and for a while it seemed to be getting better. This is the infamous chicken that I picked up last week. A few days ago its health started to decline again. I'm not sure what did it. It was walking for a while. It would sometimes fall over, but it was able to get up again. Not anymore. The poor thing was stuck on its side and rubbing all its feathers off and really it wasn't pretty. It was kind of hearth breaking. Yesterday I brought her some food and she couldn't really eat it on her own because she couldn't lift her head well enough. So picked her up again and held her up to eat.
This stupid and pathetic creature actually got me to love a bird, melted my heart over a chicken. It's not so far-fetched considering my love of animals, but it is a little odd when you take into account my irrational bird fear. Anyway this afternoon I went to bring her some brussel sprouts and I found that she had died. I also found that I was more bothered by it than I thought I should have been. What the hell kind of insensitive person am I if I'm sad over this doomed bird? I guess the fact that it was doing so well gave me hope and that hope lead to a slight attachment. This got me thinking about the rest of the chickens. I guess I kind of like them too. I mean I spend a lot of time feeding them and cleaning out their houses and collecting their eggs. I even went out of my way to clean their water buckets and I'm currently trying to make their houses nicer.
A while ago I started questioning my feelings about working on a farm that raised animals for food. When I first began my search I specifically did not want to work anywhere that had animals for food. I felt it would emotionally stressful for me and I didn't agree with the practices. However, the more I thought about it, read about it, and talked to others about it, I started thinking maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing ever. True, I think it would be better if people did not eat animals at all. However, if they are going to, I think they should buy from small local farms that take good care of the animals and make sure they are happy and healthy. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to work at a place like that. Maybe I would be able to do it because I would be able to see these animals living healthy lives.
After this whole chicken episode I have decided it doesn't work that way. I can't even tall most of these chickens apart and I would still be upset if they were to become food. When I saw this one injured chicken, who was so obviously not a happy chicken, still fighting to eat and keep living, I knew that no matter what the circumstances, it's really not OK with me to kill something that wants to live. Furthermore, if I can get attached to one nameless chicken and feel some fondness for 50 others which simultaneously annoy the crap out of me, then I'll never be able to work on a farm that kills their animals. There is just no way I would not get attached.
I think there is more to gain out of any animal than its monetary value and I think that is something worth standing by. So there you have it. My list of possible farms to work on just got much, much smaller. So be it, I can't change who I am and I don't want to.
How awesome would a vegetarian president be?
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