This morning I went for a dawn walk in local woodland. The sun was rising, glinting through the trees, streams gurgling, birds singing, bluebells everywhere. You couldn’t imagine a more perfect scene. It felt pretty great. While I’m appreciating this, I’m listening to a podcast. And one of the hosts recounts an experience they had once in an animal market. They came across a rabbit that had been skinned. Except it was still alive. Someone had removed it’s skin while it was still conscious, and left it there, twitching.
My initial reaction was shock at the extreme cruelty of this. But beyond that, it provoked what is a consistent conflict for me. There is real beauty, and pleasure, and happiness to be found in this world. It doesn’t last forever, but it does have real value.
There is also wretched, terrible suffering. And it’s everywhere, going mostly unnoticed. And not just as a result of excessive human cruelty. Plenty of predators take time to tear their prey apart, without always killing them first. The suffering is baked in to the natural world.
It’s highly unlikely any of us will experience being skinned alive (though I believe they used to do this to people.) Or being eaten alive. Probably, most of us won’t even die ‘violently’. But the risk is always there – that it could be you, desperate and twitching, taking your painful final breaths and longing for an end. Whether through illness or accident.
Of course, our deaths might not be that bad at all. They could be peaceful, or sedated, or merely mildly uncomfortable. But the risk is always there, as long as you live. It could be you in the wreckage of that car, or burning alive, or so demented that you’re trapped in a state of permanent terror.
The issue I have is how to weigh that risk against the real value that sits alongside it. Could it be worth the risk of those most pitiful, desperate moments, in order to experience beauty, love, or moments of contentment? If you ever found yourself having to pay that price, could you accept it? Or would you demand a refund?
I have no idea how to think clearly about these things. I don’t know if my depression distorts my perspective, or lends clarity that most shield themselves from. I don’t know.
4 comments
The story of the rabbit is horrible!! I hope the people who did that get skinned alive!
There is a huge amount of suffering in the factory farming meat industry. I am not vegetarian, but my sister is. More and more, every time I eat meat I feel guilty.
I would not risk a pitiful desperate moment to experience love,beauty or moments of contentment.!! Not me.
It is a horrible story. I imagine they did it for some kind of ritualistic or commercial reason, rather than from malice. I doubt they even considered the experience of the animal.
I don’t eat much red meat, but I do eat fish, dairy, and eggs, all of which necessitate animal suffering. I also feel guilty, but health issues complicate changing my diet (I’ve tried going vegan several times.)
I think if I knew something that bad was going to happen to me, then nothing in existence could make it worth it. But then there’s a lot of positive things in life that I haven’t experienced. Perhaps some more fulfilled people really would be prepared to exchange that level of suffering for the lives they’ve led.
Of course, nothing that bad is likely to happen to me. But sooner or later, something bad is likely to befall all of us. I don’t know what level of happiness would make it worth it.
More generally, I don’t know whether the positive experiences of all the creatures on this planet make moments like those experienced by that rabbit worthwhile. I wouldn’t feel justified in ending all life on the planet if I magically had the power. But I would feel uneasy allowing it to continue when I knew it required so many experiences like that.
I think probably the bird deserved it, to be skinned alive. Guess that was his fate
I’m sorry I meant the rabbit. Makes me want to tear all the skin off my body.