Injustice... partly rectified?

There is a hell...

Or rather, there are hells. Here on Earth, even. Places of unimaginable pain and the deepest of suffering that is physically possible. Before you allow your preconceptions and judgments to cloud your feelings of such a place, try to vaugely imagine what it might be. Can you?

These places are called factory farms. Although the victims that are enduring these hells are not human, they are just as capable of experiencing the pain and suffering forced upon them as you would be. This is not an opinion, but a fact that they have nervous systems and brains that function in the exact same way that your's does. They may lack the ability to do such things as vote, organize, or defend themselves, intellectually, or in the immediate physical sense, but they can feel as much as you can. They have commited no crimes, harmed no one, have not even wished ill upon others, but they are tortured and murdered. Their only fault is that their flesh or bodily fluids are pleasing to the palatte. For this reason, and for the profit of big business, these sentient beings are subjected to hell day after day, year after year, by the billions. And every time you buy a slab of their flesh or a carton of their fluids you are not only supporting their torturers, you are giving the order via your dollar to have it done. You are perpetuating hell. If injustice exists at all, is there any a greater than this?

---

I wrote that a while back, and though it sadly, sickeningly is still a reality, there was an ultimately insufficient but still very significant step taken in the direction of rectifying this injustice this week. Here in California, Proposition 2 was passed, limiting (though not ceasing) the torture of many farm animals. This, I hope, was merely the first in a series of reformations to reduce the extreme suffering of "for-food animals" by recognizing them as entities capable of sensation instead of products to be treated in any way that maximizes productivity or profit margins. There is still a long way to go, but the landslide passing of this proposition gives me a sense of hope I have not felt for a long time in terms of animal welfare as well as in terms of the human capacity for compassion. And I've got to say... it feels damn good.

Through Pain to the Stars

Per Dolorem Ad Astra. Through Pain, to the Stars. I worry that such a title will ring as arrogant to any potential passer-bys who somehow happened upon this personal experiment in (hopefully) creative writing. I admit, at first glance, it does seem somehow self-congratulatory, unnecessarily triumphant to stake a claim in the blogosphere with a Latin phrase for a title. But in my defense, I chose it because of it's beauty and meaning on a broader scale than my measly musings. The title is not meant to refer to any struggle of mine, but as a motto for the struggle of life. Not just human life, either, but organic life in general. That is, the resulting complexity that has arisen after billions of years of 'selfish replicators' making imperfect and competing copies of themselves. From such simple beginnings, this complexity has since brought into existence consciousness that looks out into the universe it finds itself in, emotion that allows it to be angered, delighted, saddened, or awed at what it does see, and inevitably, suffering as well. It is this reality (which we have just recently gained the ability to reflect upon) that fascinates and humbles me more than anything else. It is my aspiration only to write on this theme in my own sophomoric way. It is only my hope to record the sense of awe that I feel in response to it. (And perhaps to practice sounding as if I'm not naive.) We'll see where it goes. I have no expectation to garner any kind of readership. Indeed, I might be too self conscious to write if I knew anyone other than the select few people I've shared the URL with were reading this. Maybe I'll make a few posts only to see the futility of trying to write anything remotely meaningful on a regular basis. Whatever the case, at least I've finally made the first post.