Essay
by Cindy Tapia
Three
days ago I saw a video of the cruelty that animals go through
in the slaughterhouse, also as known as the meatpacking
plant. This video made me feel a new compassion towards
the animals that suffered so much fear and pain. It is unbelievable
how animals get abused every day without ever considereing
the animals' feelings. In the days since, I have been thinking
more and more about the meaning of compassion and how essential
it is to develop this quality.
Animals
are not that different from we humans. They experience fear
when they are in danger, they get happy in joyful moments
and sad when they are in pain or depressed. They are such
wonderful creatures, that when I see them in pain, my heart
cries in sorrow. But people need to notice and show more
kindness and compassion to animals, as they are creatures
that God had made just like us to have freedom and enjoy
life.
Ever
since I saw the video I have changed my daily habits: I
have become a vegetarian for the reason that I imagine the
animals' faces in grief. I have also tried to convince people
to feel more compassion towards animals because I bet if
we see one of our loved ones getting slaughtered we would
do anything possible to try to save them; I know I would.
So why not try to save more animals? I'm sure the animals
would feel the same pain when we get injured.
Animals
do not only go through cruelty through our abuse, they also
go through our killing and eating them. These animals die
miserably, since their death is so slow and brutal. But
we don't see the person who is killing the poor animal feel
any compassion to a poor innocent animal, so why should
we care when a human is about to be executed for murdering
someone? Where does compassion start? So every time you
eat meat you need to realize that poor animal was tortured
so you could eat it and feel satisfied in your stomach.
What
I'm really looking for in this world is for us to show more
compassion to the animals. Think about it, in the words
of one of my classmates, "Do we want to support kindness
and mercy, or do we want to support cruelty and miser?"
I believe all of us should do our best to show kindness
and mercy to all creatures, from the smallest chicken to
the biggest human. Seeing the suffering of those animals
makes me realize how important it is to lead a compassionate
life in which we always try not only to sympathizse with
the pain of others, both animal and human, but also work
our hardest to prevent it.
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