Omnivore's Dilemma Chapter 12

These little mom and pop shops are what I grew up on. My family used to own the only butcher shop in our town till we sold it to another family that had also grown up there. Going out on the butcher truck with my grandpa and dad was not an uncommon thing for me. I think back now and wonder how I didn't turn out messed up, watching countless animals being shot, skinned, gutted, and then hung in the back of the truck each time. Watching this while I was little was fine for me but as I got to be about 10-11 years old I finally started to see through the animals eyes. In Psychology you learn that there are 4 cognitive stages to your childhood. The 3rd one ranging from ages 6-11 years old is where a child gains the ability to see through the eyes of another person or thing. If you were to ask a 5 year old in the audience what the person up on stage can see, they will most likely reply, "the backs of people's heads". This is because they have not yet made the connection that other people visually see things differently then them. Once I roughly reached 10-11 years old I began to see the view the animal saw right before a bullet penetrated their skull at 1800fps. This very quickly became unbearable for me to watch. The sheer helplessness of the animal crushed my heart and mind. As I got older I began to realize that the animal seemed more and more emotionless and I got over the killing part, but for a while their I had to go in front of the truck and plug my ears so I wouldn't actually see nor hear any of the killing happen. It's funny though,I couldn't watch the animal be killed but as soon as in was droped and bleeding out I was fine. I think it was the whole taking of life thing that got me. The animal was alive and thriving and with the squeeze of a finger it's life was ended. I just couldn't take it. Like I said though, that was a phase I went through, I finally understood when I was about 13 that the animals had no idea what was going on and had no feelings towards me nor the rifle. When Pollan discusses the cutting of the chicken's neck it bring me back to that feeling I once had when I was so little. Telling myself that the animal wasn't alive any more, it wasn't suffering, it's movements were nothing more than a fight or flight instict, involuntary. That is all long gone now and by taking one look in my dorm room you'd never think I cared about the life of an animal(deer head hanging on the wall), but the truth is, I believe animals do not precieve death the same way humans do, they do not fear death the way humans do, therefore they cannot be compared. I'm not quite sure what my argument was for this blog other than the fact that I too have felt the same feelings Pollan did when taking an animals life and maybe my question to you is, what do you think is wrong or right? Do animals know exactly what is going on right before they're helplessly executed and my opinion is just a fabrication I developed in my mind to get over death? Or is my way of thinking correct? Do animals have no clue what that stick pointed towards them is going to do? MAybe a class discussion could be in order?