This was the blog of an Eloise wannabe and her 2 roustabout kitties as they work on a book deal in the City of Lights, giggling all the way. Now it's the blog of an Eloise wannabe planning her next escape (California, Canadia?) with 2 other kitties--still working, still giggling.
Warning: rant ahead. Not suitable for everyone.
I found this shot on sfgate.com, the website of the San Francisco Chronicle. (BTW, happy belated E-Day!) Seems that a few coyotes have moved into Golden Gate Park and Bernal Heights, which makes me wanna do a big Ellen-esque "Kakakak, back atcha!" I love the thought that city dwellers share their environment with these beautiful, cunning creatures.
In the accompanying article, however, an animal control officer is quoted as saying "No, they won't eat your kids" and that calls to her office are becoming increasingly frantic. Good Elvis, please grant me patience! It's obvious that coyotes are under much more threat from humans than the other way around. I share my office with an otherwise lovely woman who thinks there's something evil about cats (and she hasn't even met mine yet). I see so many people freaking out over pigeons--PIGEONS!!! I hate those spikes that line windows and rooftops and statue's heads to keep pigeons away--they have us much right to be on God's green Earth as we do. (And before you ask, yes, I catch spiders and put them back outside, and in Australia I warded off ants with peppermint oil--don't have that issue here so I don't have to worry about it.)
The Australian media is especially good at attributing personal vendettas to sharks and the like, with headlines such as "VICIOUS SHARK ATTACK!" Ya know, there's nothing vicious about a shark attack, just as there isn't about a bear attack or a cougar attack or a crocodile attack. Because "attack" isn't the right word. They're doing what comes naturally to them, just as we're doing when we eat. The only difference is that now most of us personally don't have to go out and hunt, and the whole animal slaughter process has become so far removed from our daily life that we somehow forget we are indeed in the food chain. We are mammals. We can be eaten if we're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Oh, and yes, we can be attacked (in the true sense) if we're seen as danger to another being or its off-spring. Is that vicious? No, it's just survival. And it's nothing personal.
I was involved in a conversation that left me angry and sad last week. Not to sound tortured, but I struggle daily with my choice of what to eat. I've done the whole vegetarian thing and it didn't work for me--I wasn't structured enough or smart enough. So I went back to eating fish and fowl--only chicken and turkey, because I had a pet duck. Yes, I know, hypocritical. Every now and then, some red meat finds its way into my diet, like when I'm absolutely fanging for lasagna. Must have must have must have. And sometimes when I go to Le Temps, I'm offered foie gras as a freebie starter. I first ate it because I didn't want to offend, and then I got a real taste for it. But watching last week's The F Word completely put me off--hell, if it could put off rabid carnivore Janet Street Porter, then you know the traditional process of fattening up the liver is très cruelle, regardless of the taste.
Anyway! In last week's conversation, someone said "God gave us dominion over the animals, so I'm going to eat what I want." Now, you want to believe in God or any other deity, you knock yourself out. But the smugness made me want to say "My favorite line from Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being is 'Man created God to give him dominion over animals.'" I don't understand why people think animals don't have souls or feelings, don't feel pain, were put on this earth for them to do with what they please--all the while ignoring that they are animals themselves. I certainly don't understand why someone who calls themselves a Christian would do that. Isn't there someplace in the Bible--wait, at least a few places--that says be kind to animals? If you want to eat animals, again, knock yourself out. But have the grace to say "I'm eating this because I really like the taste of it," not "God told me it was okay."
Or do it being mindful, knowing where the food comes from from and giving thanks (not to the heavens, but to the animal for its sacrifice), another reason I really have a crush on admire Gordon Ramsay. First there were the turkeys then the pigs; this season it's the lambs. There's no way in hell I could raise my own food, I wouldn't be able to go through with it (as Gordon himself almost couldn't do with the turkeys and then came to understood why some people are vegetarians after watching the pigs being slaughtered). It's tough but his kids know where their food comes from. Growing up on a mango plantation, where we also had fowl, I freaked whenever a chicken was killed, and I was glad when our shortlived attempt at raising cattle came to an end. I absolutely hated the nights one of my stepfather's friends came to shoot hares. Because it's not only rabbits that howl, hares do, too, and that sound is terrifying and heartbreaking. I can't help it--if I see an animal in pain, it's almost as though I feel it as well. Person standing in front of me, bleeding? Ok, let's get you sorted out. Animal? I feel it straight in my gut. I can't watch animal documentaries when I know an animal will die, even though that's the law of nature. I want the big cats to be happy and healthy, with full bellies. I just don't want a zebra to die for that.
Let me just say here: I'm not telling anyone what to eat (I make my choices and you make yours), nor am I telling anyone who to believe in or pray to. I'm just asking that people don't see animals as threats or objects that you can treat with impunity. If we are the smartest pups on the planet, as we like to think we are, if we're to follow a certain code of behavior, then surely compassion must be part of that code. I think Jesus might agree with me here.
