As Chinese New Year approaches, so begins the various decorations and preparations for the festival. Red lanterns are being hanged from trees, characters for good luck and fortune are being written, and last but not least...pigs are getting slaughtered one by one for the upcoming family reunion feast. This afternoon at our school, I witnessed our pig being slaughtered with my very own eyes, heard its wailing screams with my very own ears, smelled its fresh blood in the moist air with my very own nose, held its separated heart with my very own hands, and ate its freshest meat with my very own mouth. It was an experience that was not particularly fun to watch, but nevertheless necessary. I chose to watch because as a meat eater, I feel it is only right to witness how much pain and suffering animals go through in order for me to eat and receive pleasure from eating meat. Eating meat takes a life away and therefore should not be taken for granted. Buying the pre-cut, individually wrapped package of pork chops at the supermarket does not tell the whole story at all. It detaches you from the real pain that takes place. So I watched. I stood as 3 hired butchers used ice hooks and dragged our pig from its sty to the slaughtering area. With hooks in its mouth and its hooves being dragged, I watched as the pig struggled and fight to no avail. With every piercing scream, my stomach turned a little more. The butchers then lifted the pig, laid it and held it sideways on a wooden rack. With one quick stab with a spade in the neck, blood flushed out into a bucket, the screaming stopped and was replaced by gurgling, as the pig slowly became still and lifeless. It took them less than an hour to clean and fully butcher the pig. And a couple hours later, I was eating coagulated pig blood in soup and Chinese style braised pork. I felt a strange, calm emotion. I wasn’t sad that the pig suffered and died and I didn’t regret not watching the slaughter. I was actually happy and not in a gloomy mood at all. It tasted really good! I was happy knowing that I at least had the heart to watch the pig sacrifice its life for my stomach and acknowledge how much pain it goes through. As meat eaters, this is the least we can do. We owe it to the pigs to at least witness their suffering. If you’re not willing to watch the slaughter but still eat meat, it’s easy to take it all for granted. Otherwise, just become vegetarian.
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