#108 - You and I

Today’s words: Pigeon, China, Satan, Scallop

Word count: 250

Completion time: 23 minutes

--

Why do we torment and criticise other animals

For being inferior? Looking at the world through different eyes,

See, they aren’t like you and I, they don’t feel like we feel

Their pain isn’t recognised, who cares if they die?

People screw their faces up, at little pups in China

Who get served alongside a variety of food.

Not to be rude, but I’m over the line of thought

That is shocked and appalled by yet another animal...

Yet another innocent life we carve up with knives

And say it’s alright, it’s justified, because

They don’t feel like you and I.



A pigeon was sat on a bench the other day

And someone kicked it away like it could contaminate,

Like it would be great if they could be cast away

Like Satan from the heavens. Why?

They didn’t disobey but they have no say because why?

They can’t speak like you and I?

Judge like you and I?



We don’t need to buy something to think that we own it

No cash needs to change hands to know we can have it

The scallops on the beach, the ocean deep

Everything we see, we claim just by looking.

We take parts of the world and reduce them to nothing

Just by looking

I look to you and see myself reflected right back

We’re on the attack, you and I

We don’t give a fuck, you and I

It’s in our nature to rely

On things that can’t fight back.

#96 - Little Piggy

Today’s words: Market, Join, Minimize, Specialize

Word count: 106

Completion time: 5 minutes



--



As kids, the little pigs are always going to market

But we don’t know why

As adults, the pigs are still going to market

This time we know why



We just don’t care



If we could join these pigs on their journey

Be there to bear witness to their shortened lives

Would we still sing nursery rhymes about these dark times?



The little piggy isn’t going to market to buy food

He’s going to market because he is food



We need more people to specialize and end, not minimize, these animals’ pain

So that never again will we be fed at the expense of the dead

#62 - "Chicken Isn't Vegan?"

Quote from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World ;)

Today’s words: Chicken, Catnip, Love, Friendship

Word count: 311

Completion time: 37 minutes

Summary: Why a good taste doesn't justify death

“You don’t even eat chicken?”

“Chicken is meat...”

“But chicken is so delicious, I love it.”

“I swear it’s either chicken or bacon that is like catnip to a kitten for some people.”

“So you don’t eat chicken?”

“No I do not.”

“Don’t you miss it?”

“Not really...but even if I did, I wouldn’t want to eat it.”

“Why not? If you miss something, just have it.”

“I miss the thrill I felt when I used to break into my sister’s house as a teenager, but that doesn’t mean I want to do it again because I know that that little thrill didn’t justify my actions. Just like taste doesn’t justify senseless murder, you get it?”

“That’s not the same, like, burglary is illegal.”

“It’s the same concept – a thrill or a good feeling at the expense of something that’s a lot more negative. Just because chicken tastes good for however long the meal takes to finish...that really doesn’t excuse the shit that they go through for us. It’s almost like bullying someone because it makes you feel powerful...yeah it feels great to have power, but not at that expense.”

“Yeah but no-one is directly involved in killing these animals, so it’s still not the same.”

“You’re right, but by paying for it and consuming something that is a product of pain, you’re still contributing, even if it’s not first-hand. If people stopped eating meat, there’d be no need for the supply...but since people keep demanding meat, the animals continue to be used and abused.”

“You can’t blame me for something that people will do anyway, regardless of if I stop or not.”

“You’re totally right, man, why give even a little to charity if lots of people are going to give anyway?”

“Exactly!”

“I was completely kidding. I value your friendship, you know, but your views are a little sketchy.”

#54 - Forbidden Charta

Today’s words: Diversify, Example, Laniary, Charta

Word count: 615

Completion time: 1 hour

Summary: The head of a major food co-operation finds a document condemning the consumption of animals.

This could have been done so SO much better with actual facts and stuff and it does nothing for veganism but it’s essay time at uni and this was the best I could come up with right now... But hey, this is supposed to be improvised, right? And it really was!

--

“We can’t let anyone see this,” the head of the food company whispered, looking over the charta that her assistant had found tucked away in the archived section of the building. “Why was this even here? Destroy it, immediately,” she handed it to the perplexed-looking assistant, pressing it into his palm like he was a baby likely to drop it, “and if you find any more of its kind, dispose of them in the same manner, do I make myself clear?”

“This is an extraordinary revelation, though,” the assistant protested, staring at the tattered parchment like it had come straight from another planet. “If this got out, especially to groups like Animal Aid or Peta, hell, if it got out to one vegan or vegetarian, it could have a massive impact on everything and everyone; it’d spread like wildfire.” He held the charta next to his face. “The laniary argument would be blown out of the water, for one.”

“The what?” The word appeared to her like a bad smell.

“Laniary...you know,” he lowered his arm, “canine, pointed teeth.”

“Speak English, then.” She fixed him with a look she’d give to a badly behaved dog. “I can’t keep up with this science mumbo jumbo you come out with at the most inconvenient of times.”

“Yes, anyway...sorry,” he quickly apologised, realising how rude he sounded. “As I was saying, the argument that humans have canines meant for meat, that humans were in fact designed to eat meat, would never have a leg to stand on. Like, think, why do humans kill animals anyway? Because they can’t talk? Because we’re used to it? If we really take time to question the reality--”

“This is why you need to get rid of it, it’s corrupting you already!” she hissed, putting both hands on his shoulders and guiding him towards the door. “I don’t care how, just, for God’s sake...” she fumbled around in her pocket and produced a lighter, struggling to light it with unsteady hands. “Fuck it, I’ll destroy it myself.”

He shrugged himself free of her like ‘crazy’ was contagious. “We’re inside!”

Moaning loudly, she threw her hands up and spun around to face the floor-to-ceiling window that looked onto the car park. “Look, the more we diversify humans from pigs and cows and sheep and whatever else, the more money we make, the more we are allowed the freedom to kill them and turn them into our product which is...?” she turned and raised her eyebrows expectantly, making hand gestures meant to hurry him up.

“Um...lip-smackingly good?”

“Bingo. I will not risk it coming out that animals and humans used to live in ‘harmony’ together...”

“For years and years!”

She stared at him, unreceptive and through gritted teeth continued: “... Until, due to a massive crop failure, one of the villagers proposed that they cook and eat the livestock, and why? Because they saw them as inferior beings just because they didn’t share the same language.”

The assistant held the charta up to read from it. “Then, said villagers who indulged in the murder were...called forth and executed by the head of the village,” he flicked his eyes up to look over the top of the paper, “or so it says.”

“Animals are for eating, it was perfectly justified.”

He sighed, exasperated. “Well apparently, we’re not supposed to be eating meat.”

“If that is in fact a genuine article from history!” she snatched it from him. “You’re wavering.” Shoving past him, she strode into the hall, clutching the charta so hard that it was beyond creased. “I’ll burn it myself...and then I’ll buy twice as much meat when the day is over. Fucking hippies.”

#48 - Word Vomit

Today’s words: Laugh, Maddening, Retiform (arranged like a net), Frightened

Word count: 537

Completion time: 1 hour 21 minutes

Summary: Some people, like me, are really bad at getting their point across even though they know exactly what they should say

--

“She asked me what the time was, right? And I’m like, ‘time to make me a sandwich’! Get it?”

I laughed sarcastically.

“Haha, yeah, you got it!”

I never liked this guy, yet I was walking to work with him. Why? He happened to bump into me at a pedestrian crossing and I tried to nudge my protest out of its hiding place in my throat but it didn’t work. Fuck.

As we walked and he bragged about something or other, I couldn’t take my eyes off of the retiform-like pattern on his tie. I stared intently as we strode past various shops, the pattern constantly coming into focus before blurring again with every step that he took. It made me think of the cages that humans kept animals in just so that they could profit from them, which brought me back to a conversation we had had months earlier:

 “Why vegan, though? Why not a vegetarian? It’d be easier, right? There’s no waaaaay I could give meat up, proper carnivore, me! Like, where do you even get your protein from? That shit must be unheal-THY.”

I think he had successfully asked me almost every typical question in one go.

I’ve met a few meat-eaters who only really seem to talk about their diets once they find out that I don’t eat or use animals. These same people think themselves the experts on nutrition, too.

I uttered a little laugh before trying to figure out how to say that vegetarianism still supports animal cruelty and that I can get protein from various vegetables, nuts, and pulses just fine, but nothing came out aside from that stupid fucking laugh.  

I decided to try again, even though I was frightened by what my mouth would come up with:

“Well you know, eating meat—No, um, using animals is bad.”

These maddening words... What did you just say? Back up a second, you really just said that, huh? This isn’t a Word document, you can’t just backspace that shit, it’s out in the open now. Who are you, Mr Mackey? Meat is bad, mmmkay?  That’s exactly like him saying that veganism is stupid. Tell him why it’s bad, tell him properly!

“Every day, animals are being killed...all day every day.”

...

Okay listen to me, half-pint, repeat after me: ‘Indulging in animal produce is not only harmful and exceedingly cruel to the animals who are forced to give themselves to us, but it’s also needless – it’s possible to get an abundance of protein, iron, B12, various vitamins etcetera from other sources! Who are we, as human beings, to take things from animals without their consent?’

Yes, that sounded good, very good...okay, here we go:

“Eating animals is mean, and you can get iron from like, spinach and stuff.”

“Haha, what?”

Fuck!

Fuck...

It was always like that; I’d have something really great to say, but when I began to speak, the ideas had been filtered through a dumbing-down device.

I suppose I just get overwhelmed with choosing a proper retort because to me, it’s obvious why animals shouldn’t be treated like that...but I guess other people don’t see it...and I can’t tell them...because I get choked up.

I’m sorry, guys.