For the Love of Cows

This was on my Facebook page today.  First, I laughed, and  then I felt guilty for laughing.

Cows are among the noblest of creatures on this green Earth.  They live on grass alone and they harm no other creatures.  They are, as a rule, gentle and good natured.

The Far Side by Gary Larson, of course

We take their sweet, delicious milk, stealing it from the mouths of their babies.  We make from it cream to lighten our coffee and butter to spread on our toast.  We make yogurt, sour cream, whipped cream and more kinds of cheese than there are days in the year.  We love the smooth texture of the Camemberts and Bries, the fungal funk of the Blue, the goodness of the Gouda and, of course, the holiness of the Swiss.

Then we kill them and eat them.  I love a thin, pinkish slice of roast beef, the seared strips in a hovězi kung pao, the gravy soaked  cubes in my goulash.  I love a sizzling steak on the grill.  I love it ground up and served with beans, rice and scorching hot peppers wrapped in a tortilla and covered with sour cream.

There’s another thing.  It’s not bad enough that we eat them, and steal their milk, but we combine the two in many sinfully delicious ways.  A significant portion of my ample girth is directly due to my love of cheeseburgers.

But that’s not all.  We use their skin to make leather.  After killing them and eating them, we proceed to wear them and upholster our furniture with them.  (Why do you think they call it a cowch?)

You would think we would worship them like the Hindus (well, not exactly like the Hindus – they worship them and don’t get any good out of them), but no000000.  We mock them, and make videos like this.

I suspect if the cows saw it, they would rise up in revolt.  And then where would we be?