No. 149
You look at me
and see hamburger,
filet mignon,
roast beef au jus.
But I am a mother/father/sister/brother.
I look at you with curiosity,
and innocence
and in the end
I will be betrayed.
But I don’t live on a factory farm
so I don’t know that yet.
I offer the following short short video by Paul McCartney for educational value. I leave the option whether you want to view it to you. It contains graphic and upsetting images but meat eaters should know how the meat comes to their plate and how factory farms operate. Taking pictures of farm animals and this video made me stop eating beef, pork and lamb– am working on eliminating chicken and fish.
MOONSIDE 
Cant watch the video, your poem is powerful enough. I have always wondered why the Universe is ordered as it is, and on Earth why sentient beings seem programmed to eat each other. Boggles my mind when I think deeply about it. If I had designed the Universe/Earth, I woulda make some changes!
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March 22, 2013 at 1:09 PM
Thank you for reading and commenting. Agreed. It seems like some cruel twist of creation.
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March 22, 2013 at 1:41 PM
Very thoughtful indeed!
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March 22, 2013 at 1:20 PM
Thank you, Arjun.
Reread your part 3 for the 3rd time– every bit as good as the first reading.
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March 22, 2013 at 1:43 PM
Wow, Thanks Ellen.
🙂
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March 22, 2013 at 1:58 PM
You’re welcome! 🙂
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March 23, 2013 at 3:43 PM
Howdy friend
I have seen many similar video’s. I have volunteered with many animal and environmental agencies. I have written blogs some are older on this subject. With factory farms especially the abuse and neglect is heartwrenching. I have seen animals skinned alive for their fur or been electrocuted with a prod put in their anal area so as to not damage the fur for coats. It more than sickens me. I wish I could be there to expose them and do to them what they do to animals.
I am glad more people are shedding light on such subjects.
Yisraela
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March 22, 2013 at 4:59 PM
Hi there,
So glad you commented and admire you for the work you have done which I think I read about in one of your posts. Yes, it is gut-wrenching stuff. The video I posted has a long version that is beyond heart breaking. PETA has put up these videos on trucks in the U.S. and then had the trucks drive around so everyone could see these images of utter cruelty and violence. People in the streets cry. I wish there were more of that type of thing going on. If people must eat meat at least measures should be taken to be SURE the animals are killed humanely. This is man at his worst.
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March 22, 2013 at 7:45 PM
My parents brought my little brother and me up on vegetarian, organic food.
We were both taught about factory farming, animal abuse in other countries such as eating dogs that are put into fires alive and cooked, etc.
I have been a Peta card carrying member for so many years I’ve lost track.
Excellent poem, Ellen.
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March 23, 2013 at 12:22 PM
Thank you, Genie, for appreciating the poem. You and your brother were very fortunate to be brought up on vegetarian food. I remember feeling ill as a child eating flesh. And I have been vegetarian on and off. Now I believe it will be for life. Just have to get off chicken and fish.
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March 23, 2013 at 6:51 PM
Growing up on a farm in a time and place where everything was organic, before anyone thought to invent the concept, animal welfare came before our own needs, where every animal had a name, and the room needed to express their personality, I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment that “meat eaters should know how the meat comes to their plate and how factory farms operate”.
We have lost something in the process of industrialising the rural landscape; something deeply harmful at the soul level which finds it’s expression, not only in the way that we treat other sentient beings, but in the way that we treat each other. How can we be expected to integrate the needs of our farm animals, the needs of a struggling planet, when we have yet to embrace the responsibilities we should have towards our fellow Man?
Alienated from our neighbours, society (and Society), we have become remote and self-isolated from community, and all the responsibilities that requires, in the same way that we have isolated the meat on our plate from the animals we see in the fields; itself providing a false impression, supporting some misplaced idea of pastoral idyll; and simply refuse to face the reality of modern meat production methods.
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March 23, 2013 at 3:51 PM
I couldn’t agree more with your wonderful comment. Having grown up and unfortunately still living in New York City, I treasure our weekends in the country and love to photograph the animals and the wilderness but am aware that death and destruction lurks behind the bucolic scenes. Now want to do something about it.
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March 23, 2013 at 4:19 PM
And now you’ve met Tiny, you’ll appreciate why I have a soft spot for No. 149… 😉
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March 23, 2013 at 6:05 PM
Yes, I can. It sounds like a beautiful relationship!! You both were very lucky to have each other. Must have been terrible to have her sold.
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March 23, 2013 at 6:48 PM