Mind Rambles on a Rainy January Afternoon:
SARs, civet cats, the CIA and bludgeoned chickens.

They recently discovered that civet cats in China could be the hosts of the latest appearance of the SARs virus. Without intending this to be a fucked up comment that fringes on ethnocentricity at all, I must say that it's no surprise there's an outbreak, really. I've walked past a street market in Hainan once. They were selling all sorts of animals in there. A lady was splitting a live tortoise's body apart with a huge knife in front of me. When the front plate finally cracked apart from the shell, I could see the poor fella's heart still beating. The lady just ripped the heart apart (how often have we used the phrase "ripped my heart apart" repeatedly without understanding the full physical ramifications and reality behind the event actually occurring?) and threw it to one side, followed by the intestines and other organs. The guy who bought the tortoise stood near, looking introspectively, keen on having first view of the merchandise he paid good money for.

I saw cats stacked in cages too. But this is not an attack on any particular nations' dietry preferances and slaughtering etiquette. Every nation has its peculiar consumption habits and means of inflicting pain on others. Throughout time, mankind has excelled in the areas of invention and refinement when it comes to inflicting tourture and pain. Mordern day institutional manifestations of this inherent trait in human beings can be seen from the Gestapo to the KKK, and on through the CIA.

The point being, that few nations can be spared the rod when it comes to punishment for cruelty to others including animals. So let this be a message to all. Stop animal cruelty. I'm not a vegan. I eat meat. But if you've got to eat em, then kill em in the fastest and most humane way possible. Get a sharp knife and go for the big veins that run through the throat. There's even a consumer's health incentive to slaughtering by means of slitting the throat. You see, the blood has acidic content. When you kill the animal by pounding its head or running electricity through it, there is no bleeding and the blood therefore stays within the animal. After some time, the acidic content will dissolve in the flesh of the dead animal. Consuming the meat thus becomes harmful for one's body. Now there's a scientific rationale behind slaughtering by means of slitting the throat. But do you know how many electrocuted and bludgeoned chickens and cows are hanging by shop windows these days? Think about that.

Just a few tips on how to kill animals. For one's necessary consumption for the sake of sustenance, of course. Oh my, the story has deviated that far.

But back on the topic of dietry preferences, I reckon that China's fetish for consuming "exotic" animals is a reflection of historical circumstances. Historically, the commonfolk of China have had hard times surviving as a result of floods, famines and other natural disasters. Scarcity of food must therefore have been a major policy issue for them in the pre-modern days. The people therefore adapted to their surroundings to beat the scarcity by experimenting with consuming many different kinds of animals (and parts). This may be mere speculation, but think about it the next time you tug into your bear's paw soup.

My canary he died last night.
Suffered from a fright.
His hanging cage was jumped at
by my neighbor's curious cat.

His songs were always moving.
I heard it every morning.
A voice like chords from strings
in strains that come to sonnetting.

A trowel my father used
as he softly prodded and mused.
Buried the lifeless bird
in a handful of dirt.

A pinch of bread held by a stick
with bite marks from his tiny beak.
Some water left inside the dish.
A meal my lovely never finished.

But the tragedy of it all
is as he came to a fall,
his final song
wasn't that very long.

I never gave him a name.
Always thought it would be lame.
But in death, I call him Gerald.
Poor, sweet Gerald.