We had tacos for supper, made from the ground steak of one of Shawn and Patty's own cows. One of the conveniences of modern living is that one doesn't usually consider the source for what is on the dinner table when food comes from the grocery store. Eating the meat from a cow just like the ones I'd just been watching was a queer experience. I felt a mixture of reverence and discomfort eating that beef. It was top quality meat, but somehow that quality was hard to enjoy. Don't think I'm a total saint, though. There is compassion for living beings on one hand, and then there is the recent memory of stinking manure and the mess Shawn had to clean off the to-be-mother cows in order to artificially inseminate them. I have to say that the latter was more disturbing than the former in my case.
I also gave a second thought to the title of the Spielberg movie AI, which I'd previously only thought of as referring to artificial intelligence. Now I think the title is purposefully ambiguous. Does anyone else follow me there?
![[Comments]](/nb//themes/Default/comments.png "3 comments")
(3) Mon May 02 2005 11:49 Cowboys:
Shawn, my brother-in-law, not only farms, but he also raises cattle. We had a family dinner out at Shawn and Patty's farm on Saturday. Atticus enjoyed it, but Samuel was in heaven. We saw cows, bulls, and calves, including one that was barely newborn (mama cow was still licking off all the "stuff" from being in the "womb." There was a premature calf, about a day old, that was in a warming box in the barn. We watched that little guy take a bottle. That was a thrill, but no match for each of their short turns sitting on a cow that was in a pen. Then we watched Shawn AI two cows. The bull-donor lives somewhere in Brazil.
- Comments:
Posted by Joe Walch at Wed May 04 2005 11:56
I thought at first you were talking about Artificial Intelligence. It sure makes you grateful, but I think of is as another symbol of the atonement. The Jews at passover sacrafice the lamb on the altar and give a quarter of it to the priests. They then take the rest home to eat. It is a part of this mortal life that everything that we eat must have lived first to keep us living (even plants). Which would I feel worse about, killing a cow to eat, or cutting down a tree to build a home? Fun story, though. I think that children need to get a "taste" (pardon the pun) of agrarian life--especially life with animals. There is a diference between spending time with living, breathing life as opposed to the video game or TV.
Posted by Kristen at Wed May 04 2005 16:32
I remember when you saw Robert kill a chicken in VA. It is sobering.
Posted by Frances at Wed May 04 2005 20:23
When I was about 13 or 14, my parents bought a steer and made an agreement with a neighbor that if our steer could run with their cattle on their pasture, Frances would help their son herd them. Said son was the horniest thing that ever lived, and I had a miserable summer with him. The only thing that saved me is my horse was faster than his horse. When I complained to the folks, they thought I was just trying to get out of work. Stupid cattle. There is no animal so obnoxious. They would break down fences (which we would have to mend). They would hide in bushes. They would go the opposite way of where they were supposed to go. Everyone thought I would get attached to the steer and not want to eat him. Not so. It was sweet revenge. I still like a good hunk of rare beef.