With so much in the head now it feels so difficult to write… I have thoughts, emotions, details to tell about, but also that imminent need to cut it short straight to the core. Nah… I’ll make it short:
We had one really full day today. Julia wanted to visit a guy (her guitar teacher) who now lives out of the city at what we call “dacha”. He’s just yet another beautiful human being, but he also has a rare, supposedly incurable disease (Behterev), so he’s struggling and Julia basically wanted to help him with some information she came across. Anyway… the whole point is that something happened there…
Matty and Mumunia
While Julia was talking with Kostia (the guy) Matthew and I were wandering around, entertaining ourselves. We found two calves (young cows), who were just resting on the grass. Matthew went on to cuddle one immediately and the little creature was literally HAPPY about the company. Just look at this:
Matthew gave him a name – Mumunia. He presented him a flower and tried to feed (but later reasoned that Mumunia can find food by himself). They were playing, gently and even passionately, like two friends. The calf was crying when we left, he was calling for Matty to return.
Later that day Julia asked Matt a question… “would you want to eat Mumunia?“. He said “No.“. Just hold your breath for a moment, and listen… it’s “no”.
This, and, quite coincidentally (or not so), the “Earthlings” film that we just watched led me to a few points:
1. We lie to our kids.
2.
We lie to ourselves. Who, in their sane mind can grab a live duckling and bite out it’s head? Not you, right? Now how about a juicy apple? Feels better, huh? And what about a smoked turkey…. ? We have right answers in our hearts from the very beginning, from birth, but we’ve grown to close our eyes, consciously and lie to ourselves, just to keep things easy. Dumplings are dead animals. Hot-dogs are killed calves. Shoes are animal flesh. Apples are apples. But we know it, right? We just choose not to think about it. We have our lines of defense, sophisticated and comforting… “we were meant to eat it”, “don’t tell me or you’d spoil my dinner”, “fish has no brains”, “but apples feel pain too, right?” or the worst of all “but my body needs ….”. One can tell me about research, science, books, experiments, but I’ve seen the truth today – it’s all in your heart, until you cover it, until you wrap your sin into a fancy foil, until you loose the connection. Matty said “No”. And it was the first time when we didn’t lie to him, when asking this question.
3. We are not pests, virus, aliens or “mistakes”. It’s time to stop this bullshit already. It’s when you know you’re doing something wrong (and don’t want to stop) you call yourself a “bad guy” and keep rolling. But it’s life, it’s our home – we have to take the responsibility. Humankind is a natural and integral part of planet Earth, and all the wrongs that we do are mistakes we should fix.
p.s. Julia and I are vegetarians for a few years now. We know people who’ve been vegetarian or vegan for many years. We know people who are veg from birth. They are healthy, happy and strong. The only reason why people eat animals is because they like how it tastes. The only reason why they think it tastes good is because they are forced to get used to it, by marketing, ads, misinformation, friends, and first of all – parents. Meat/fish/poultry/seafood/any-animal-protein is not tasty for men, we have to roast, boil, add spices, salt, lemon, mix it with something, etc – we go to great length to even be able to consume it. It starts from killing. Then we lie.
