Do carrots have feelings?

I just heard that more kids are becoming vegetarians.

The reason? They see film from slaughterhouses on You Tube.

It isn’t for health reasons, it isn’t for monetary reasons, it’s because they see animals dying. I’ve never watched that sort of thing on TV or the computer. I know animals die. I grew up on farms, helped butcher pigs, rabbits, chickens and calves that I’d raised from newborns. I shot plenty of rabbits, squirrels, quail and pheasants for the dinner table. There were never illusions or confusions back then about mice, pigs, cows or deer that talked to each other, or had human thinking ability. We had a pretty clear idea, most of us, that if we were going to live, some plant or animal had to die.

We cared about our farm animals and treated them well. We didn’t like to kill them, but when we did, we did it quickly and humanely. Sometimes the tough young man or the old guy who had to pull the trigger had tears well up before he could stifle them.

Did you ever pull a carrot out of the ground? Did you notice how vibrant the green, healthy top growth was just before you pulled it? Did you ever notice 10 minutes later that it had started to wilt, the vitality of the living plant was gone? Did it feel anything?

The carrot didn’t squeal or panic—did he? You didn’t hear it if he did, but does that mean it didn’t feel anything?

I for one believe it had feelings. It was a living thing. I’ve killed plenty of plants and vegetables too, and they have feelings. You can watch their reactions to various actions that you take--if you watch closely and really see what you’re looking at.

No human can exist on this planet without something dying. Nobody can prove to me that a cow has more feelings than a carrot.