Crushing, Killing Debt

 
Currently, my retirement options are a) homelessness and b) suicide.  I have over $23,000 in credit card debt.  I should be like the average human.  I should care much, much more about money than animals.  But I can't.  I just can't.  I care more about animals than money every second of every day.
I was watching a movie that I like the other day called The Boost, which is about drug addiction.  James Woods buys an expensive car, and a dog, for his wife (Sean Young).  I'm relying on my memory, but he essentially said, "A $50,000 car and a $2 mutt-go figure."  That line saddened me immediately and deeply, because, in our society and world, it's true.  I don't agree with that.  I truly believe the life of one mouse is worth more than all the money in the world.  Animals are flesh and blood; money is paper and metal.
But, in our society, money is worth more than life.  That's one of humankind's contributions to this world.  It can safely be said that, in our society, all these items are worth more than the lives of countless animals: smartphones, cars, houses, clothes, shoes, hoverboards, bikes, motorcycles, coffeemakers, toasters, furniture, cutlery, guns, bombs (including nuclear and hydrogen, of course), missiles, chemical and biological weapons, tanks, aircraft carriers, battleships, destroyers, submarines, computers, microwave ovens, stoves, furnaces, real estate, parking lots and garages, refrigerators, radios, stereos, TVs, watches, alcohol, drugs, alarm clocks, and so on.  I could go on and on, but the sad truth is that almost EVERYTHING is worth more to meat eaters than the lives of the animals they eat.  Actions speak louder than words.      

Animals Are Better Than People

I took this picture 9/11/01.  I have ones that aren't blemished like this, but I can't find them.

Animals didn't invent war, we did.  Animals didn't invent guns, we did.  Animals didn't invent nuclear weapons, we did.  I could go on like this forever, but perhaps you get the point.  People have done things that animals couldn't even imagine doing.  Sure, some animals have killed and eaten youngsters of their own species.  But at least there was a good reason.  They were hungry.  They were trying to survive.  Perhaps it's all they know.  Some people have killed children for reasons that animals would never kill for.  We have evil in us; they do not.
We should try to follow their example.  Look at groundhogs.  They're vegan; they eat grass and weeds.  Sometimes, they squabble amongst each other, but, for the most part, they're peaceful.  Tonight, I watched mama groundhog lay down near the entrance to her hole/home.  It looked like she was enjoying a nice evening before retiring to her hole.  Just a cute little furball who will never use chemical weapons on anyone and won't fire any tomahawk missiles either.
So much needs to change.  Many more people need to start caring about all animals: not just their pets.  What's the point of loving your cat or dog while you eat murdered pigs, cows, turkeys, and chickens?  What did these animals ever do to you?  It's very easy to be a vegetarian who avoids all foods with eggs in them; that''s what I do.  It's extremely easy to be a vegetarian.  Why not give it a try?  Educate yourself.  Read a book like Animal Liberation by Peter Singer.  If you don't like the first chapter (I didn't.), then skip it (I did.).  The issue is simple.  Animals are confined intensely in cruel conditions before they become food and/or clothing.  The worst part isn't that they're killed, it's how they're treated before they're murdered.  They are treated like machines.  They are packed into warehouse-type buildings.  Their keepers are usually more interested in money than how well these animals are treated.  If meat isn't expensive, part of the reason is that they're treated very badly.  Money comes before their welfare.  I disagree.  Each and every animal is worth more than all the money in the world.  Life is worth more than money.