9:39 a.m. - 2004-09-15
Chickens are like sardines.
I saw the most horrible thing this morning. I was on my way to work, on the interstate, and there was a trailer full of chickens. They were in little drawers, packed so tight they couldn't even move their wee little necks. The drawers couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 inches tall.
Now I don't want to eat chicken. But, since I can't eay soy, that only leaves beans for protein and that would make me one unpopular girl -- if you know what I mean.
I don't eat crab legs, because young boys get suckered into working on the boats during the summer, and get tossed off the side of the boat like small fish during bad weather. Nobody gives a damn about them. They are expendible. I eat fish, but I know that there is probably a similar practice.
I just don't believe that anyone should risk their life to feed me. I especially don't think that anyone should be manipulated into risking their life with the lure of big money that may or may not be paid out.
I don't think that anyone ever got killed farming beans. At least not by the farming of them. So I think I'm safe there, except for the unpopularity bit.
I just can't stop thinking about those poor chickens. Its all about money. I don't mind animals being kept and killed humanely for food. Its the circle of life. But for heaven's sake, don't make the little guys miserable while they're alive. It reminded me of how slaves were treated on the trip over to the Americas. Packed like chickens on a truck with no regard to health, comfort or respect for life. I know chickens aren't people, but have we really not progressed beyond the disregard for life so prevalent in earlier days?
I hate being sensitive sometimes. It takes all the joy out of eating.
