Slaughterhouse visit to JBS

Walking out of the slaughterhouse I could not even begin to process everything I saw behind those high security walls. I was expecting it to be much worse than it actually was, but even still it was a hard sight to process. I will never forget everything I saw inside as the images of the plant are permanently embedded in my brain.

I am still disturbed from the experience. I still can’t get the setting of walking through the moving meat hanging from a ceiling conveyor belt. I couldn’t get the mixed look of shock and disgust off my face, and all the workers did was smirk and laugh. I guess if they work there every day their job can get a little monotonous, making me their entertainment for the day; however, I didn’t like their smirks at my distaste for the surroundings.

When actually watching the cows get knocked, my heart broke for these poor things literally walking to their death. Then after they got knocked, they would hang and twitch from the ceiling. Even though they were brain dead, they still have leftover energy so that is why they twitched. It was so freaky. I couldn’t bear to watch for too long.

Even though I hate what is done to these animals, I am so glad I can say I think JBS has one of the better plants in the slaughterhouse business. They have officials all over the plant and follow the rules more than one would expect. Even with us they were strict in making us follow all their rules and dress code policies. Although possibly annoying at the time, it definitely makes me feel better about the precautions taken when processing the meat. I am also more at ease knowing that cows are now classified as a food animal. That does not justify killing them completely, but it makes it a little easier to process.

Even though it was tough to see everything in the plant, I am definitely glad I went. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget.

Chapters 14-20: The Jungle

After going to a slaughterhouse myself, I greatly sympathize with all that Jurgis must see and deal with every day. It is absolutely brutal and I honestly could never work there myself. I am not surprised he beat up his wife's boss with such force and anger because he sees animals senselessly killed every day. How does that not affect one's mindset?

The beating of his boss leads to his imprisionment and deterioration of his family. He is not able to be with his family or provide for them as he so desperately desires. All he was searching for was the American Dream when he moved, unfortunately that does not happen. Sinclair displays the negative effects of capitalism through the tribulations Jurgis and his family face in The Jungle. All of Jurgis's hard work cannot even come close to the advancement in pursuit of the American Dream. It is extremely apparent to me that the more Jurgis tries to progress with success, the lower he drops emotionally and financially. His family is slowly broken event by event and he drowns his sorrows at the bar. Sinclair proves the hidden destruction of the American Dream as everything seems to fall apart as one pursues such an ideal.

I think this is sad that Jurgis cannot seem to catch a break. All he wants is to provide a nice life for him and his family, but everything that could go wrong does. I don’t know if I could even get past the idea of working his job, and then on top of that all the other factors in his life that are not going well either.

World View: Human Life> Animal Life

As I reflect on the reading of The Jungle, I am deeply disturbed. The details and descriptions in this book are sickening. It took so much will power to actually push myself to keep reading. The thing that just

made my heart break was the treatment of the animals. They didn't even care how they heartlessly killed the animals or the shrieking of the hogs as their throats were slit. I was in complete shock at how unaffected the workers were to such horror.

The treatment of these animals is horrendous. I have this image in my head of when I used to read Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a child and they only killed animals at certain times of the year and never more than they needed. They rationed their food so it never went to waste, and they always used every part of the animal that they could. That is not the case anymore, and especially not the case in The Jungle. Since when do we get to treat animals with no respect as if their life means nothing? This thought really hit home when the book talked about, “Is there no Hog-God?” Animals are not treated as a life, but more a body of meat held together by skin. It’s as if they grow the animal as if it were a fruit growing on a tree, and when it just ripe they pick the fruit similarly killing the animal. I can only imagine what my thoughts will be as I read more of this eye opening book.

Tough Times for Migrant Workers

After reading And the Earth Did Not Devour Him and Casa de Carton my heart broke for these main characters. With each reading assigned for this class I learn so much about the world outside my bubble I live in.  

Casa de carton stuck out to me the most. I could not even begin to understand the pain of having to move all the time and never be able to set down roots. The main character just wanted to go to school and learn and live normally, but his family forced him to leave so they could find work. While I understand the need for work, I still feel terrible for the boy who wants so badly to be educated and feel a part of something.  I wish that he could go to school so he would be able to be educated and get a job other than working in the field to help his family survive. Unfortunately, they need him to work to increase the profits for the family. It’s just a difficult situation all around, but should not have to be a problem because of the mistreatment of the workers in the first place.

And the Earth Did Not Devour Him exemplified the mistreatment of workers as well, but to an

extreme. The workers were getting diseases from the sun and overwork. They were forced to push themselves to work through the blaring hot sun with little food and water intake. It is not surprising that they are getting sick because their bodies are even more prone to catching a disease. The main character persisted in making sure he was able to keep working and survive all the difficulties he faced. This is the main theme in my opinion. He was able to beat all the odds stacked up against him and “the earth did not devour him.” That title is so powerful proving he was supreme over the tribulations he faced.

These two selections go well together because they both discuss the idea of the sacrifices made to work the fields as they try to survive and earn a living. I cannot begin to imagine the amount of inner strength it took to face these challenges, and do so successfully. 

My Modest Proposal

The amount of obese people living in America is astounding.  Obesity has increased across all demographic groups from 2012 to 2013. I can only imagine it will continue to increase as the years progress if we do not take action and do something about it. It is obvious people are not going to help themselves from this terrible habit; therefore, I have come up with a proposal that should fix this increasing problem.

I propose that every time someone goes to a grocery store they must step on a scale and record their weight and body mass index (BMI). These results then determine what an individual can purchase at a grocery store. The people who are considered obese must only purchase foods that are healthy and natural. There would be certain sections of the store they could buy from. Based on the person’s results they would get a certain colored sticker. Red would be the worst where they could only purchase food from the red section. Orange would be second worst, but they could purchase food from the red and orange section. Yellow could purchase from yellow, orange, and red. You get the drift. The goal is for people to be forced to eat healthy and then as they become a healthier weight they stay eating healthy versus eating fattening foods. This would also give the healthiest a chance to splurge on eating healthy because sometimes we just need it. It can be considered a reward for being healthy. Children would not even have to be tested they would only be allowed to eat from the two lowest sections of healthy foods. This is so their body does not want or crave the unhealthy food and they can train their body to run on only healthy foods. This would create a generation of healthy people. The person at the checkout would make sure they purchased from the correct section. They would check to make sure everyone was buying the correct items.

In addition to helping Americans become healthier, this proposal would hurt the companies

producing food that is unnatural or unhealthy. Because not many people would be allowed to purchase the unhealthy foods greedy companies put on the shelves, they would go out of business or seek ways to make their product healthier so it could be sold on the shelves as a healthy item. It becomes a win-win situation all around.

I think this proposal is a great way to reduce obesity in America and will help start a generation of healthy people.

On a side note, this is a super cool website I found that ranks the states in order of obesity in children and adults. Go check it out! https://www.healthiergeneration.org/about_childhood_obesity/in_your_state/  

Eight Going on Thirty

This selection of reading about Rigoberta Menchu makes me so sad for her life growing up, and what she had to face at such an early age. There is so much she did not have to experience, but people are greedy and do not care how they treat people they see as below them in worth. At a young age she brought it upon herself to work the fields to help her mother get more money to keep the family afloat financially and physically. In what world would we imagine ourselves helping our parents bring home the money that puts food on the table? I know I wouldn't have been able to at her age; however, it makes you think of how quickly she had to mature versus people, like me, who grew up blissfully unaware of what it took to live life without worry. A child should not have to grow up so quickly or know what it feels like to carry the weight of your family’s burden on your shoulders. It makes me so grateful for what I have in my life.

After reading this I also feel hatred towards the people inflicting such cruelty on these workers. I mean, I know America had slaves and the cruelty experienced was similar if not worse, but this particular selection is different because they are not considered slaves who can never leave. They are forced to work because they have no other option. The people in charge know that and take advantage of that. Who does that? How do they sleep at night knowing that so many people are suffering because of their immense greed for making the most profit possible by ripping off the workers? My personality is pretty independent not really wanting to others who command me unfairly, so I cannot imagine my current self working in the fields and just taking the abuse they received. The entire time I was reading I wanted to fight back for them because I found it so unfair.. and unfair doesn't even come close to describe the treatment they received. 

300 Years Later and Still Hungry...

I remember reading “A Modest Proposal” for the first time in high school and was deeply disturbed by the material. Later I found out this piece was a satire and was dramatically used to get a point across. When I found this out, I was better able to understand the depth of the material and how he crafted his argument in a startling way.

I love finding how literature written so long ago can still apply in some way to our modern culture. I believe Swift is accurate his depiction of how people in poverty might have no choice in the options they have to survive. It is interesting because Swift’s “modest” proposal is quite the opposite. It would be a drastic measure for people living in poverty to survive; however, it brings light to the situation of something drastic must be done so they do not have to live in poverty. He sends out the message of a change is needed in order to progress in their country. The same situation is applicable today. How many people are hungry and struggling to survive not only in our country but also the world as a whole? It begs the question what are we actively doing to reduce said hunger? I mean I know there are many organizations doing their part, such as Kalamazoo Fishes and Loaves, but that’s not enough to alleviate the amount of suffering people. Maybe Swift’s “modest proposal” needs to be redistributed to the public to make people realize what an issue world hunger is in our society. Obviously people who read this without its background find it revolting to read, yet they do nothing to help the problem Swift is trying to shed light upon.  World hunger is a problem in this society and community, and we need to actively be a part of the change.

Here is an interesting article that takes thoughts from Jonathan Swift and applies it to modern day culture: http://cornellsun.com/blog/2008/01/24/a-modest-proposal-mixs-solution-to-world-hunger/

Kalamazoo Fishes & Loaves

Kalamazoo Fishes & Loves is a great organization in my opinion. Researching this organization before going has given me a little bit of insight about what they do for the community. I especially like their Grocery Pantry Program. This program helps individuals by providing them with groceries when they call a number linked to
KFL. They distribute to around 300 households a day. That really makes you think about how many people are hurting in this community alone. I admire what this organization is doing to help.

In addition, I love what other companies are dong to fund KFL, such as Panera bread. They donated money to KFL so they could better help the community end hunger, especially in the summer. Kids cannot get as much food as most rely on school lunches and/or breakfasts to fuel their bodies for the day. Some kids can't get as much food as they need at home, so they look forward to eating at school. This is crazy for me to think about as I hated school lunches growing up. I always brought my lunch thinking it was better for me, but some kids needed that school lunch because it was that or nothing at all. I really appreciate what I have, and will try to help in the near future.

Dinner with Trimalcheo

After reading “Dinner with Trimalcheo,” I see a resemblance between the king and slaves when it comes to our food system. Trimalcheo can be compared to our high end food companies who pretty much rule the industry. The slaves are the little guys who are under the power of those corporations and are pretty much forced to do as the companies want. The salves in this excerpt are treated kindly if they do as they are asked, but feel the wrath if they do not. Similarly, farmers feel the wrath because they have no profits or support from the government if they try to do it their own way. The power struggle between the two scenarios are parallel in nature, and prove things have not really changed in some respects.

In addition, the amount of food that is consumed at this feast is extremely decadent. It seems as though they never stop eating. Courses are endless and rich in content. Trimalcheo insists on guests drinking wine instead of water only to show off his exquisite and expensive taste. The type of food that is served is ostentatious in content and presentation. The way he presents the food that is tied to the Zodiac symbols tries to show off his knowledge and ability to have such a variety of food. All this food the guests are being exposed to seems like too much. It is more than a feast! Some people consume way too much food in the present day and age. This is another way this excerpt parallels our world. Many consume food that is lavish with fat and unhealthy for them. Similarly, in the excerpt where the guests never stop eating the exotic foods that they do not normally eat. America’s problem is they eat the fattening foods on a daily basis. You could look at it as a progression of the two. It might have started where they would eat lavishly once in a while, but now it has turned into a more common habit.