Wednesday, December 22, 2010

This end DOES NOT justify the means

I found out from my friend Sara how South Korea has decided to deal with Hoof and Mouth Disease. All of the cows in my province are being slaughtered. The meat will not be used for food. In fact they don't even plan on killing them quickly. Nope. That'd take too much man power.
Instead they are going to dig a giant hole and throw them in. If they don't die from the fall or being smashed by their fellow cage mates they will be buried. Alive. Apparently the first 500 died this way yesterday.

I'm not a vegetarian. I like meat. I do NOT like the senseless killing of any innocent lives. I can't even kill bugs because I can't help but tell myself they have a purpose on this earth just like i do. Mine is more important...but that doesn't matter. I can't kill without cause. A mosquito--it will bite me. I still feel a little bad about it...sometimes.


This brings me back to Shakespeare's "Macbeth"


A scene where Macbeth is expressing guilt over killing his King--who was like a father to him.
Macbeth:
Methought I heard a voice cry "Sleep no more!
Macbeth does murder sleep," the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast—

Lady Macbeth:
What do you mean?

Macbeth:
Still it cried "Sleep no more!" to all the house:
"Glamis hath murder'd sleep, and therefore Cawdor
Shall sleep no more; Macbeth shall sleep no more."


and another later on, same act (act 2 scene 2) that I think anyone who has senselessly killed any animal should feel 


How is't with me, when every noise appalls me?
What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.




Basically he feels as though his hands will be forever stained red and that an entire ocean could never wash his hands clean of blood. Should he try the green ocean would turn red with the blood of his sin.




I fail to see the justification for this. I need a reason to accept this as a logical mood. Economically it is a good move because it will save on vaccination costs and labor for the farmers who have to seek out the infected and separate them from the herd.

It isn't even humane to the cows and pigs to end their lives this way rather than sending them to the slaughter. Hoof and mouth disease is a terrible disease for the animal. They wind up not being able to eat or stand by the end. However, I think slaughter is almost a better way to go than to be buried and slowly suffocate.

I can imagine the helpless cries of these abused animals as they are herded into holes, crashing into the cold hard ground, and struggling for a foothold before another lands on top. Then the crushing weight of the dirt as it piles high and darkness pervades the air.

I think I need to check out for a while. People don't understand me and my reaction to animals and I really don't have the energy to try to explain or justify my feelings.

This end DOES NOT justify the means.

4 comments:

Linda Eagle said...

Girl, you don't have to explain your heart for animals. That is how you are wired, and we need all kinds of people to make the world a better place. Tree advocates, animal advocates, innocent children advocates. You are going to grieve for these helpless animals.

Unfortunately, none of us gets to select how we "go" in the end. Some go quietly in their sleep, and others don't. It's life :-( but at least it is fairly quick for these animals.

I love your pacifistic nature - I relate to it - and I also love how you are balanced... some people go too far one way or another.

Just keep being you. We need more Amandas, and don't think about it. We can make things even worse in our mind (if that is possible in this case).

Let's grieve together :-(

<3 you!
Linda

Adam said...

Are you sure this is how they're culling the animals? I don't know either way, but I'd save yourself the grief until you confirm it from someone else. It could be a translation error.

If it is true, that's pretty terrible. I think Koreans have a different relationship with animals than Westerners. Like with dogs: I don't see the point of buying a dog and then leaving it tied up in your yard for 15 years. What's the point? And how horrible for the animal who can't ever run.

Unknown said...

It is what it said on the news...and even my co teacher confirmed it with me. However, if I've learned anything about the news in America it is that sometimes it can be rather sensational.
That is what I'm telling myself. I have read several news papers since yesterday in hopes that it was all a huge misunderstanding.
The truth of the matter is that the disease is spreading and vaccinations are expensive and are not always fullproof. Korea is losing a lot of money and even if they get the disease under control it will be unable to export any meat products for a year. Korea's economy had just started to pick back up until the "attack" of N. Korea and now this.
Maybe it is some sick kind of biological warfare instigated by N.Korea. May be a little far fetched but who knows, right?
I guess I've always kind of had a problem with the killing of animals. I do hope that they are taking the time to kill the animals first before being buried.
Koreans do have a different relationship with animals. They do keep their dogs on short leashes and never take them for walks. Unless they are cute, tiny, and can wear clothes to match their owner. Not kidding.
They also eat dog here...not kidding. They just don't have the emotional attachment but they have the history that supports this detachment. Not too long ago this country was starving. The elderly still walk bent over due to the lack of nutrition when they were little. They are smaller too. Crazy small. And there are very few wild animals...that I've seen. Even in America we see an occasional deer, squirrel, bird...
It's another part of the culture that I have to learn to accept. Some things are easier than others.

Unknown said...

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/12/113_78463.html