Being in the Camargue region of France has been a bucket list sort of thing of me since childhood, I just wanted to see white wild horses galloping in the marshes, with the Mediterranean Sea in the background, I remember Crin Blanc… do you?
For some, the Camargue will only evoke the beautiful nutty flavoured red rice and pink flamingos.
For others, it might be the bullfighting, Gypsy lineage, palm reading, long catholic processions, songs of Bob Dylan and Tori Amos or even some paintings of Van Gogh.
There is a strong culture of bullfighting, bull rearing for fiestas and for the plate.
I remember one day when I was a child and I was watching TV with my dad. The corridas were filmed and played late at night. One started and my dad went straight to bed, it was not his thing. I watched it. I remember being transfixed by it, especially by the bullfighter costume, his dancing elegance, the red…the horses, the bull fighting for his life, then getting the coup de grâce.
I got infused by the spectacle beauty, not even considering the bull’s life.
At the time, I ate meat, all kinds of meat apart from horse (I was riding them) and offal (smell too bad). It was part of my upbringing and I didn’t question it.
I became a vegan through my work which opened my eyes to animal suffering. I genuinely could weep each time I see a truck of cattle or sheep going to the slaughter house, I cannot think of hurting any animals, it crushes me to see a dog on a chain and there are a fair few here in Corsica.
Animals are viewed as working tools or food by the majority of the people living on this planet.
I look back at the child I once was who had pet dogs and cats, rode horses most weeks but ate meat and could watch a corrida without even thinking there was something odd about antagonising a bull and killing him slowly in front of a crowd.
How I changed, how my heart then filled with catholic compassion has now expanded into true compassion.
There is hope but there is also the horrific realisation that if I could think like that, a lot of people can be asleep in their compassion state and might never wake up.
Looking at animals in the eyes, feeling and seeing them for who they are is to me the most precious act we can do.
