When I saw...

When I saw the videos of the people who live near CAFOs begging for help on YouTube…
(why should I care – I don’t have to live there)

When I saw the Pfisteria organisms and the fish kill...
(not my problem until there are no more fish)

When I saw the cruelty and the confinement of other sentient beings...
(who cares? Not my dog)

When I saw the manure lagoons and the new strains of microorganisms such as E.Coli 0157H7…
(phew! It wasn't my child that died because of unnatural farming methods, so I can just look the other way)

When I saw the other deadly organisms, and the antibiotic resistance…
(wasn't my mother who died from a curable disease because we have depleted our antibiotics on farm animals, so just I'll just go on with my life)

When I saw the India farmer suicides…
(wasn't my dad who killed himself, nothing to see here)

When I saw the BT cotton…
(my fields aren’t poison, and I have no children, so why would I care?)

When I saw the waste of grain…
(I am just so thankful I'm not the one starving to death or can't feed my family, so glad to be me)

When I saw the deforestation because people refuse to give up burgers, steak, bacon, chicken, milk, and cheese for the planet…
(I'll wait until that tsunami comes for me before I'll believe such lunacy as SCIENCE)

When I saw the dead zones in the Gulf, the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes…
(who needs oxygen? It is over-rated)

When I saw the veal crates and what they do to those babies, just babies…
(torture is fine as long as I still have my cookies and milk, even if the milk is a possible health hazard - I want what I want - dammit!)...

When I saw it all?

I went back to eating my cheeseburger. Perspective is a wonderful thing.