So here's an interesting story that's in the news today.

In north Portland Oregon,

a chicken has caused a traffic jam because it was trying to cross the road.

And not only where cars stopped for the sake of the chicken

but local authorities were called.

And there's actually phone clip let's hear it

Dispatcher: Non-emergency.

Caller: Hi, um,

this is actually not a prank.

There is a chicken trying to cross the road

off of highway 30 across from the lighthouse.

Dispatcher: (laughing)

Cute story, right?

But I'm not sharing this story because it's cute.

I'm sharing it because it's particularly interesting when you study the behavior of our society

because when people are driving down the road

and a duck or chicken or a family of geese are trying to cross the road

that's usually what happens people stop

and they wait and they watch and admire them

Oh, that's too cute.

Their cuteness, their spunkiness,

how they walk, their little faces and beaks.

But then drive three blocks down

to the nearest fast food joint and order some chicken nuggets or a junior chicken burger.

We desire to see the chicken safely make it to the other side of the road,

yet not only participate in the confinement and slaughter of millions of chickens every year

but say and do absolutely nothing when they are violated

and pieces of their body are dismembered, fried,

and then put on menus with adjectives like juicy succulent and crispy.

So what I want to know is

if we wouldn't just keep driving and run over the chicken when we don't have to,

how come we're okay with this?

How can we pay and give our money and support to this when we also don't have to?

Chickens and turkeys raised for meat have been bred to grow so large so quickly

that many suffer crippling leg disorders, chronic joint pain and even fatal heart attacks.

Sick or injured birds often have their necks broken.

Others are clubbed to death.

Those who live to reach market weight

are thrown into transport crates and

loaded onto trucks bound for slaughter plants.

Handling is often violent

and frequently causes bruises, broken bones and other injuries.

At the slaughter plant, the birds are dumped from their crates

then roughly snapped upside down into moving shackles by their fragile legs.

From there, the birds are dragged through an electrified vat of water

which renders them paralyzed but not necessarily unconscious.

They are then pulled across the blade

which slices their throats, causing blood to pour from their necks.

Some of the birds who missed the blade

have their throats slit or their heads ripped off by a backup killer.

Other birds are drowned and scalded in the tanks of hot water designed to loosen the birds feathers.

It just blows my mind

that the only difference between some beings, such as a chicken

being safe and guided and looked after and waited for and protected

or being confined, abused, neglected, violated and slaughtered

is whether or not they're on a road or in a building that we don't have access to.

Why, people, why?

Here's why.

Habit.

Addiction.

Peer pressure.

Convenience

and taste.

And none of those are a necessity.

Was it that this is just a really lucky chicken?

Or that we're not actually putting our moral instinct into action?

And that we've got a little catching up to do

with what we pay for and how we let other people treat beings

that we have the instinct to protect.

Because honestly,

if during that traffic jam

I went into the middle of the road and picked up the chicken by its leg

and slit it's throat

I think there'd be a lot of traumatized children

and a lot o traumatized and angry adults

that would get out of their cars and say "What are you doing?"

and I would say:

I'm just doing what's done every day all around the world

I'm just doing what you pay for

I'm just doing what you have accepted your entire life to this innocent being that doesn't wanna die.

Just some food for thought. Tell me what you think.