Dark images can take you to dark places.

Two weeks ago. Port Williams, in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. Home to two fine breweries and other small businesses. Farm country. While waiting for those I was with to emerge from a shop, I saw an empty truck parked along the side street. It was across from an agricultural supply store.

It was a truck that carries baby chicks and chickens to their certain deaths. I had to look away. It was an empty truck, but in my head it did not look empty. All I could see were innocent beings, being led to slaughter. My mind takes me to dark images I’ve seen online and in person, never wanting to see them again. It takes me to images I never want to imagine, but know they exist. In 1999 I was on a passenger train in Edmonton that went past a chicken plant where I saw animals on the line trying desperately to escape. Why did I not make the connection at that time nearly twenty years ago? 

It was close to an emotional breakdown. I already was feeling a bit off that day. This really threw a dagger into my conscience. Nearly one-year of eating a plant-based diet I still make mental connections to the reality of the food world around us. It’s something that still requires work on my part. Work to understand that this happens everyday. That the majority of society still accepts this as normal when I strongly feel otherwise.

When I manage to escape those emotional moments, it is with hope for the future. Hope that the decrease in people consuming animal products continues. Hope that change is really possible.

Hope for myself and all who defend the rights of sentient beings that others will listen. Hope that others will look at trucks full of animals headed to their brutal deaths and come to the realization that THIS IS NOT OKAY.

@WriterDann