To My Shadow Workers

 

Photo Credit: @pilupepper on Instagram

First off, I love you all. Otherwise I wouldn’t bother.

Dairy — An Industry Built On Exploitation, Lies and Hidden Addictions

We humans are quite silly. In a kind of tragic way, to be honest.

We go on about peace while paying for the worst acts of violence. Like separating a mother and her baby.

Obviously that makes no sense.

And then we act helpless, as though we’re not creating the world by virtue of our collective behaviors. Why do we do this?

For those who don’t know, cows cannot produce milk without getting pregnant. Yep. Just like humans.

And contrary to what the idyllic images of cows strolling merrily along the fields would have you believe, they are not just naturally getting pregnant or breeding on their own.

This is actually a 180° inversion of the truth. Like most things.

In reality, they are held in what the industry itself calls ‘rape racks’ — can’t make this stuff up.

Yes. That’s how they get pregnant.

Then, not only are their babies taken away from them so that humans can drink the ‘milk’ intended for their newborn — because you know cheese.

But these mothers are in fact physically violated over and over again in a continuous nightmare that constitutes their life.

Just to give you an idea of the level of exploitation and exhaustion they go through, what would naturally be a 20-25 year lifespan, won’t be more than 4-5 years. At which point she will be sent to slaughter.

Because coconut creamer for your coffee is too much to ask.

All the daughters she gives birth to will live the same fate as her. Her sons will have it a bit better, as they will be kept in tiny crates so their muscles can’t fully develop. Then slaughtered while still babies.

So people can eat ‘veal’ (tender meat caused by immobility) but at least they will have the good fortune of having a much shorter life.

Perhaps it’s time to be more honest about our true values. And stop shouting about things that we’re not actually willing to change.

To our collective growth,

Tara x

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Tara Daylami

Plagued by the kind of sensitivity (and awareness!) you almost wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy, I spent most of my childhood in a state of hyper-vigilance and inability to handle to slightest of criticisms. By my teenage years, this sensitivity had successfully matured to a full-blown rage which nothing -- and I mean NOTHING -- could console until, at 16, I was FINALLY introduced to illicit drugs (the likes of cocaine and ecstasy -- and, if you like, house music) which finally began to ameliorate what by this point could only be described as ACUTE PSYCHIC PAIN. But the story doesn't end there. I continued on. With hallucinogenics. With relationships. With theft. With alcohol. With lies and deceit and betrayal and infidelity for another 10 years. In the meantime, I graduated college (on time) and worked full time. I even met and got engaged to an amazing guy. But absolutely nothing could touch the emptiness I felt inside. And so I did what most people who can hardly stand to be in their own skin do: I sabotaged. I destroyed anything and everything that "threatened" to come close. That threatened to love me. Nothing terrified me more than being "found out" for who I really believed I was inside. Empty. Hollow. While, simultaneously, nothing terrified be more that the thought that no one ever would find out.

Oh and throughout all this, I might mention, I also returned to school to pursue none other that a career as a psychotherapist. It was as illogical then as it probably sounds to you now. But I can tell you this. That decision was made (with the help of my then fiancé) in 2003, and as I (metaphorically) sit before you today, I can hardly recognize that girl. Sure, our Soul may be eternal and never-changing, but for all practical purposes, who I was and the way I showed up in the world in virtually no way resembles the person I am today. I spent my 20s effectively destroying almost everything that crossed my path. And I spent most of my 30's trying to scrape off the last residue of guilt that the previous decade left on my soul. I would be lying to you if I said it hasn't been painful. Because it has. BUT! The thing about it is that everything is different now. All the work I have done over the last several decades. Because -- despite being a spinning ball of chaos for the first 35 years of my life -- I have ALWAYS KNOWN deep down inside that I was destined for more. A LOT MORE. And the thought of that terrified me as well.