I just adopted a new kitten from the shelter. His name is Foster, named after one of my favorite authors David Foster Wallace. The moment I picked him up, I felt a strong mother's urge to protect and love the little guy. His big, innocent eyes and helpless tiny body melted my heart. I know most people feel that way about baby animals, but why don't we want to protect all of them? I thought about dairy cows and how those male babies are stolen from their mothers and packed off to veal crates. I thought about the female babies and how they're doomed to a life of giving birth every year until they they're too weak to stand. The babies are just as cute and sweet as our pets, so why does society accept the wholesale cruelty to cows? (And pigs? And chickens? And turkeys? And sheep? ...)What is it in our psyche that allows us to operate so easily with this dichotomy? It must be an out-of-sight, out-of-mind phenomenon. It reminds me of a quote by Sir Paul McCartney:"If a slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian."
