Did I say I was vegetarian? No? Oh, right. I’m vegetarian. So is this post a sermon on vegetarianism? Certainly not. I do admit, however, that my proclivities in that direction probably have a bearing on the opinion expressed.
There was a celebrated story in Britain last year concerning the fate of a primary school’s pet lamb. The head teacher had it sent for slaughter. The country was outraged, especially the parents of the children who attended the school. Their offspring were, not surprisingly, very upset about the matter. The furore grew to such a pitch that the head teacher was forced to resign. She was reinstated this week, which is why I’m talking about it now.
Questions:
Would I have sent the lamb for slaughter? No; but then again, I don’t even swat flies. I have a very serious aversion to killing anything.
Do I take delight in upsetting children? No. I love kids, and hate the thought of them being upset.
Do I think the teacher should have been hounded into resignation? No. Why not?
Because while I hold with protecting children from harm and unwarranted distress, I don’t believe in denying them the truth. We live in a meat-eating culture in which animals are bred to be killed, and that includes lambs. Not many of the cute baby animals born on farms every year make it very far into adulthood. Some, like lambs and veal calves, don’t even get that far. Whatever my feelings on the matter, it’s a fact of life.
Given that the overwhelming majority of people eat meat, I should think that the overwhelming majority of the indignant parents and other complainants are meat eaters. So isn’t it a bit hypocritical to put lamb on their children’s dinner plates, whilst wanting to deny them first hand experience of where it came from?
The lamb, of course, had no say in the matter.
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4 comments:
When I was growing up my Grandfather was our patriarch. When he was a young man he'd worked in a sheep slaughtering factory. He told us that the lambs going to slaughter sounded exactly like human babies crying. Because of this we were not allowed to eat lamb tho' we still ate other meat.
I agree with you about the hypocrisy of the parents. (I wonder if the parents held a pot-luck dinner to organize the protest?)
I lived in a house once which had a large field opposite, in which the farmer put the weaned lambs. I used to watch them forming little gangs and playing like human children. I was a meat eater then.
Shayna, you're OK. Where does your name come from?
The sweet lambs ...
My name is derived from Yiddish/German/or Gaelic (for Shane). In truth, my mom named me after an afghan hound she met when she was a young woman. She thought the name and creature so lovely that she told herself, "if I ever have a daughter ..."
(and I was her firstborn.)
My nickname at school was Bijou, French for 'jewel.' But it actually came from a dog in a French workbook. That's OK; I always loved dogs. I think I might draw the line at Rin Tin Tin, but otherwise...
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