"It's only a child"

Thanksgiving is coming up and millions of turkeys will be slaughtered.  If they were raised and killed humanely I’m sort of okay with it, but unfortunately that is not the case.

Only yesterday I read about a man (Donald), who as a child took pleasure in torturing the birds he was about to kill.  I found it both shocking that a child would be allowed to torture and kill an animal, and that the parents would stand by and let it happen. 

Several people with whom I shared this story were as outraged as I was.  Even those raised on a farm were shocked. 
“None of my animals ever suffered,” one woman said.  “I made sure of that.  Whenever I had to kill, it was quick and painless.  The animal never saw it coming and I certainly never allowed my children to be present.”

While I’m not in favour of private slaughter, I can only hope that the killers are good at what they do. 

When I read about what Donald did, it would have given me great pleasure to do to him as he had done to those birds.  I would have loved to inflict the same pain on him as he had done.  Unfortunately, I cannot.  I can only hope that by some strange twist of faith he gets a taste of his own medicine.

At times like these, I wish I had the power of Powder.  Do you remember the movie “Powder” with Johnny Depp?  There was a scene where a hunter had shot a deer and Powder channelled the pain the deer was in, into the hunter.  It was a life changing experience for the hunter.  If only I could do the same to Donald.  Channel the pain he inflicted on the birds into him. 

How people can be so cruel is beyond me.  In Donald’s case it’s bad enough that he was a little monster as a child, but to brag about it as an adult … He should have known, growing older, that what he did as a child was extremely cruel and something to be ashamed of. 

He will claim of course that his intentions were good and he didn’t want to upset anyone.  Really?  Describing in detail how he tortured and killed for fun is not intended to upset?  How big of a moron is he?

Some will say “He was only a child”.  Poor excuse if you ask me and just how much is forgiven by this phrase?  If a child does something wrong, it’s up to the parents to educate him.  Unfortunately, some parents tell their child something in the line of “That was bad Johnny.  You must not do that again.” 

As if that’s going to help.  If I were to see a child commit an act of violence against another child or animal, I would take him by the scruff of his neck and put the fear of God in him.  You can bet he would think twice before putting a foot wrong again.

Perhaps this is why our jails are filled with criminals.  If the parents of those men and women had given them a whack around their ears as a child, instead of excusing the act with “It’s only a child”, perhaps crimes such as robbery, theft, assault, rape and murder could have been prevented.