My life has changed. It’s been morphing for a few years; however, today I understood the full capacity of that change. Today I embraced my atmosphere, my company and today, I realized my life was on a path. A path with many stop signs, and “do not enter”s and “wrong way”s. Thank you, Universe, that I took the wrong way.
I have left a lot of people in my past. People that held me back; people that lacked spiritual capacity; people that amassed things, rather than experiences and relationships. I hold no contempt; however, I am glad that those people are in my past, for I could not continue with my future had I continued to surround myself with these people.
Blessed are those who are flexible. For they bend. Had I not been flexible I may not have been here. I may not have started law school. I may not have experienced this. A life that I made. A life that has a mission.
A life, that hopefully, changes another life. And that life, in turn, changes another. My path has been quite pastoral and I would have it no other way.
I finished a memo today. And I began work on wild horse and burro case law research. This case law research concerns wild horse and burro population, usually in western states. The Bureau of Land Management sets a quota and rounds up the designated number of horses and burros. The equines are subsequently auctioned off to "good homes," where they will be cared for and humanely treated. I'm sure that some end up in homes like this, however, I'm sure some are sent to slaughter, or abused, and neglected. (Because, let's face it here, these horses and burros are auctioned at extremely low prices, usually $100-$400 each).
My main issue lies in the fact that these round-ups are usually prompted because cattle farmers have permits from the government to graze their herds on this land and clearly a couple hundred horses and burros pose a threat to the amount of grassland and water sources. Furthermore, these roundups would be similar to herding a bunch of wild dogs, or coyotes and then auctioning them off as household pets. These animals are not household, domesticated pets. They are wild animals, that lived and thrived in the wild. You may be able to teach an old dog new tricks but it's pretty damn tough to "train" the wild out of the animal.
The horses and burros that are old, sick, or are not sold are either euthanized, or sent to other herd management areas. But, these other areas are usually already full, therefore, the inevitable happens.
After work, I walked home with my boys in tow and then headed to the cinema for a free documentary. A documentary that I lived, as I sat there. If you are a horse fan, or an animal lover in general, check “Buck” out. It’s a great story of one man’s passion and commitment to horses. It’s a story of how humans fail horses, sometimes, and in turn create monsters.
We as humans fail animals--constantly, consistently. You have a heart for the dog in the animal shelter? You have barely scratched the surface. Dominion over animals has turned into cruelty, advantage, and profits. You care about a kitten on the street corner, what about millions of of pigs, cows, sheep, goats, turkeys, and chickens that are tortured? 97% of the animals in the country are killed in order to feed us. And yet, still, we have people starving. We torture animals in mass quantities and have not addressed the fact that the earth is not feeding the majority of its inhabitants. We, as Americans, throw out more beef, chicken, and turkey than some countries see in year. And all this meat is subsidized. Our taxes pay for part of the farmer’s profit. Meat should not be as cheap as it is. And yet, we continue the process. We allow the continued cruelty in order for us to buy a 99¢ Big Mac, or double cheeseburger, or big, beefy burrito crunch.
I love animals, but I also love my fellow human. The human has failed the animals we were supposed to protect. The human has failed his fellow man. The human has failed, as far as I see it, the human is self-indulgent, self-absorbed, and unable to change.
**I did not address the exact means of torture and abuse in factory farming and what atrocities occur in CAFOs because I am aware that a few of my followers don't want to hear the gory details. I do not want to polarize the issue, nor sound like a zealot. I stive to be an advocate. I strive to have a dialog about these issues. If you care to know more, please email me, or phone me. I will happily discuss the myriad issues that surround the continued government sanctioned torture of animals for food.**
By the way I'm headed to this today.
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