Monday, January 07, 2008

why we dont walk anymore

Last Sunday morning January the 6th I was taking a walk down Mt Lavinia Beach, close to the Surf Club, when I passed by this crudely fashioned local piggery, and witnessed a spectacle that has traumatized me considerably. One of the unfortunate porkers had obviously marked out for execution and was being subjected to a prolonged torture session involving bludgeoning with a sturdy wooden baton by presumably its owner, and probably towards softening its meat to serve the local appetites.
The pathetic animal was squealing pitiably and trying to get away from the monster in human shape, and its cries could be heard for quite a distance but no one seemed to be worried.

I have distantly heard of this happening but this is the first time I actually saw it being done and with such calm impunity, in full public view. Killing I can understand, as a necessity in a society which eats meat, but a society which turns a blind eye to unjustifiable cruelty and accepts it, is, in my understanding one which suffers some serious underlying malfunction.

Mahatma Gandhi said once that the greatness of any nation can be judged by how it treats its animals. I can only speculate that in a nation of torturers, murderers, thugs and terrorists, battering a doomed pig is low on the priority list of issues that has to be addressed, but I worry that such public spectacles will only nurture a society who grows up accepting cruelty in a way that we never could.


a Resident
Mt lavinia