Respect Life!

Our compassion for animals is always inside us. What is needed is to “unearth” that compassion buried by misleading advertisements about the true state of meat. In the Philippines, what is often portrayed is an idea that chickens, pigs, and cows are in fact "happy" being eaten. What can be seen on huge billboards are smiling celebrities as if there is really such a thing as a “chicken joy”. I am one of the millions who succumbed to such notion for years only to wake up to the sad reality that what is actually in the box I took out from that “drive thru” is an animal who wants to live!

A trip to Tagaytay is usually accompanied by eating “Bulalo” while enjoying that mesmerizing view of Taal Volcano.  “Bulalo” to me was nothing but “boiled marrow bones and beef shanks”. I never thought of the cow that desperately wanted to live and enjoy life.  In fact, I never met a cow turned into that favorite dish. 

At this very moment, I know that hundreds of cows are lined up in slaughterhouses trembling in fear waiting to be killed and turned into a mere ingredient. Sometimes, we tend to really forget what “life” is all about. We forget that “life” is not something unique to us. All “earthlings” on this planet including that cow in the “Bulalo” share what we all have in common known as “life”. 

What I really regret is that I have not turned “vegan” much much earlier! The idea of “veganism” is not a fad considering that it is anchored on the principle of mutual respect. Just like us, all animals have one life and that life has to be respected. As human beings our job is to protect these animals and not kill them. We definitely do not have the right to take the life of an animal simply to fill our insatiable appetite.