A few days ago, I gave a speech to 20 people about what it takes to get meat on their table. It was an nerve-wracking and exhilarating experience all at the same time.
I have been a member of Toastmasters for a little less than a year. What a great organization! I joined because my brother asked me to officiate his wedding. Toastmasters helped me sail through that with flying colors and I liked the group so much I kept going to meetings. Over time I realized that perfecting my speaking skills could take me to new places and open doors. Not only will polished speaking skills help me in my Web development business … (light bulb!) I can actually have a platform with which to talk about animal advocacy. I don’t know why it took me so long to realize this. I think it’s because I was a bit afraid to put myself and my vegan values out there in such a “loud” way. I love talking to people 1 on 1 and I love writing about veganism but speaking to groups of people puts my animal advocacy on a whole different level.
The whole purpose of my speech was to inspire the audience to go vegetarian just one day a week. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot to many of you who read this blog but to people who have never considered a vegetarian diet, it’s a place to start. During the speech, I told two stories.
What Happens to Beef Cows in the United States?
I started with Whitaker, who was once considered a typical beef cow. He was found – just days old – on the side of a road in California. It’s likely that he fell off a transport truck as some farm animals do. Our friends at Farm Sanctuary saved him and now he lives a happy life on their farm. I had a beautiful picture of Whitaker blown up and mounted on an 11×14 foam board. I passed his picture around the audience. I mean seriously, who wouldn’t think this cow is cute?
Then I began to explain what happens every year in the United States to the other 35 million1 beef cows that are not as lucky as Whitaker. I described their filthy feedlot conditions and details of the slaughter process. The cows are first shot in the head with a captive bolt gun. Then they are hung by their feet. Their necks are slit and they die piece by piece to make steaks and hamburgers. Because this process happens so fast often times the cows are still conscious. I showed a picture of a feed lot and passed it around.
At this point in the speech, I think people were shocked. I actually heard a gasp when I revealed the number of cows slaughtered each year.
What Happens to Pigs Raised for Food in the United States?
Next I told the story of a pig named Socks. Socks was found wandering the streets in Springfield, Massachusetts after he wiggled out of a transport truck passing through town. He too was saved by the nice people at Farm Sanctuary. At first Socks was scared stiff around people. He would cower and run as far away from humans as possible. After a while at Farm Sanctuary, Socks made friends with both humans and other pigs. I showed an adorable picture of Socks.
Then I described the conditions for the other, not-so-lucky, 105 million2 pigs that are raised and slaughtered in the United States every year. Breeding sows are piglet-making machines. Once a sow is impregnated, she is put in a gestation crate – a small metal pen, just two feet wide. She cannot turn around or even lie down comfortably. She lives in this gestation crate for four months until she is ready to give birth. Then she is moved to a farrowing crate – which is not much bigger. After nursing her babies for 2-3 weeks, they are taken away and she goes through the whole process all over again. Once a pig reaches 250 pounds, their fate is to die in the same way cows are slaughtered.
The Crowd’s Reaction
It was interesting for me to see the crowd’s reaction. This is the first time I have ever given a speech like this. There have been many talks about Web development, camping, dog rescue, etc. but never a speech so honest and adamant about inspiring people to change. I think the audience really didn’t know what to make of all the information. My evaluator was complimentary on my delivery but asked me to back up my figures with citations which was a helpful tip. I have done that for you here in this post.
The most interesting thing to me is that the words of my speech seemed to have staying power with the audience. It has been well over a week and I continue to get Facebook messages from audience members asking me for recipes and telling me that they have been thinking about their food ever since my speech. At our last Toastmasters meeting two members said they used to be vegetarian but had moved away from it in the last few years. My speech inspired them to cook vegetarian one night a week. These are amazing things!
I can’t believe how effective it can be for just one person to take a stand and share knowledge with others. If I can speak to groups even just a few times a year and inspire people to make a change, so can you. If you’d like a copy of the speech with the images to display, just send me a comment and I’ll get them to you. One person at a time, we can make a difference for the animals.
Many thanks to Farm Sanctuary for providing the information and imagery needed to help each one of us advocate on behalf of the animals in a meaningful way.
Stay tuned … my new revelations have inspired me to make many changes to this blog and my advocacy work in general.
References
1. Farm Sanctuary, Factory Beef Production, http://www.farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/beef/
2. Farm Sanctuary, Factory Pork Production, http://www.farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/pork/
