Voices
BOB
COMIS
GETTY IMAGES/PERSPECTIVES
Killing for a Living
WHEN I STARTED farming, I had
never killed anything — except
maybe insects. I wasn’t one of
those kids that ran around with a
BB gun shooting birds and other
little critters just for fun. In fact,
when I was with any of my friends
that were doing that, I always
looked at the death of the animal
as a sort of mini tragedy, a transgression of the sanctity of life.
And, even though I did it all of the
time, I actually felt bad when I
killed insects.
Then I became a meat animal
livestock farmer, who is, of course,
a person who raises animals —
sentient, expressive animals — for
the sole purpose of killing them so
that we can eat their flesh. Initially, and still to a large degree today,
this was something of a challenge
for me. My feelings about life
were, and are, in direct contradiction to my actions in regards
to the lives of those animals, or,
more specifically, to their deaths.
HUFFINGTON
09.15.13