Do you ever find it hard to empathise with someone in pain?
Growing up, I remember Lovely Mum suffering a lot with back pain. She’s better now, but I remember it being an issue for many years. It was so bad that some days she wouldn’t go to work.
I remember thinking, why can’t she just go to work? She can’t be in that much pain. I found it hard to empathise with her pain because it was invisible and I had never been through such a pain before.
I wish I could have felt her pain, even for just one second. Had I been able to feel her pain, I would have probably grown up to be a more compassionate and empathetic human being than I am now.
Imagine if we had the ability to touch someone and through the contact of their skin we could feel their pain? Men could experience the pain of child birth, sufferers of chronic pain could be understood and people suffering from debilitating conditions like cluster headaches would be given access to more effective treatments.
This ability could help animals too.
Not only would humans begin to appreciate the complexities of animals, how their suffering is comparable to our own, but there would be a lot less people willing to work in factory farms or slaughterhouses. These places are filled with pain and suffering, and it is unlikely that anyone would willingly put themselves at risk of experiencing that pain on a regular basis.
There would be no one willing to hold a pig down to rip off their genitalia.
There would be no one willing to hold a chicken down whilst their beak is burnt off with electrically heated blades.
There would be an extreme drop in the number of people willing to kill animals for taste pleasure.
We eat animals because their death doesn’t directly impact us. We are a selfish species willing to cause harm and suffering to innocent beings simply for pleasure. One of the reasons we allow ourselves to do this is because we don’t understand an animal’s pain. Just like I didn’t understand my mum’s pain, and I’m a worse person for it.
I want to feel their pain. I want you to feel their pain. Then we might not be a species of selfish douche bags 💚
The Crumby Vegan 