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Netnet Camomot .

INDOOR plants have been trying to survive in this house, no thanks to my non-green thumb. The mind is green, but the thumb, hmmm, never mind.

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The green mind will have many uses for the non-green thumb, but let’s not go there.

For now, there’s this tiny plant in a small white pot called Faith, and faith must be the only thing keeping the plant together as it has withered to a tinier size after being left outside for too long. It had to stay outside to ensure timely exposure to early-morning sun but some species must have thought it’s a toy they could play with. Or the former house help forgot to water it, which is supposed to be once a week? Or is it daily? Oh, well.

Human beings have a responsibility to take care of living things which also in turn take care of us. It’s called synergy or symbiosis or whatever is the latest term for survival.

But human beings can be cruel—they can harm other human beings, they kill animals in order to have much-needed protein, and they destroy the environment as they’re too busy climbing the ladder of success.

Eating meat, however, is not exclusive to human beings. Animals eat other animals, too—that’s the circle of life. Watch “The Lion King” if you need more info on that. Kung sa Tagalog pa, “Sadya bang swerte-swerte lang/‘Pag umuulan.”

Fish is even offered as part of courtship for some wading birds. A carnivorous human lady will be happy, too, if given an unlimited supply of Angus T-bone steaks.

Animals have feelings obviously. Look at your pet dog, pet cat, pet goat, pet pig, pet cow, the pet goldfish jailed in the aquarium in your bedroom. They’re all happy when you’re home. Dogs wag their tail, cats purr and rub against your leg, they want to snuggle and cuddle, except for the goldfish who has to swim freely in that tiny glassy space it now calls home. If you can morph into an equally tiny superhero a la Ant-Man or Wasp and swim in that aquarium, the goldfish will surely appreciate that, thank you.

Remove the word “pet” as a description and all these animals will simply be food on your table. Yes, including the cat—have you ever heard of cat siopao? It’s an urban legend, but you’ll never know.

As for the goldfish, it’s food for the cat. Which may ease your fears while ingesting a yummy siopao, secured by the thought that the cat at least had fish instead of rats. Like the rat that you saw entering the resto’s kitchen right after you’ve gobbled down the resto’s special siopao.

The pet’s human will never eat his pet. If ever there’s lechon on the table, he will check out his mini-piggery first if his beloved Piggy is still there to make sure no one has mistakenly butchered it for this year’s fiesta. Imagine for him to find out that’s his beloved Piggy on the buffet table—que horror!

And that mini-piggery is not the usual sty. It could be a pink bedroom with an air-conditioning system, filled with pink piggy stuffed toys for Piggy to play with. Oh, so cute!

Dogs may bark and bite people they’re not familiar with, but have you ever heard of a pig that says, Oink, and proceeds to bite a human? Wild boars—yes, possible. But pigs in farms and piggeries—no. Still, they end up as food on the table most probably because they’re meek, they’re easy to kill. Same goes for cows and goats. That’s why snakes and crocodiles are considered as exotic food—killing them won’t be as easy. Other animals are attractions at circuses, safaris and theme parks—elephants, lions, tigers, panthers, jaguars, giraffes, zebras, horses, whales, sharks, sea lions, seals, penguins, etc. And it’s understandable that wherever they’re presented as a live attraction, the venue’s resto won’t serve, say, lion steak, tiger stew, or whale soup, unless that’s already happening. Que horror again!

And then, there’s the expensive and much treasured ivory image of your patron saint. In case you’ve been hibernating in Siberia and have no idea, ivory is a material that’s taken usually from the tusks of elephants. An elephant does not willingly donate its tusks to collectors. The pig also does not willingly sacrifice its life to be the main attraction on the fiesta’s buffet table.

And there’s shark fin soup. And foie gras. And dairy.

Go digest all that in your green mind—and that’s green for environment-friendly, not the green that’s imagining what it can do with the non-green thumb.

But if that green mind will inspire you to snuggle and cuddle with your SO—significant other—we can only hope the soup you’ll have right after won’t be bulalo.

Why bulalo? Hmmm. For much-needed protein for the next round.

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