As I
drove down a muddy road towards the farm, I was given the opportunity to think
about what I would be experiencing today. Going in I knew I would be milking a
goat and making goat cheese. I did not know what else we would be doing, but it
turned out to be a great day. My first experience with the farm was a baby goat
running up to see me and the others in the class. The older goats were trying
to get through the gates to us. This got even crazier as a few of us decided to
start giving the goats some alfalfa treats. They were so excited when those
treats came around. A few of us collected eggs from the chickens. All of the
eggs were quite warm. Many people made a comment about this. As we were working
around the animals, some questions came up.
One
question that stuck with me was about drinking goats’ milk. As a few of us were
preparing food, we started to discuss how strange it is that we drink the milk
of other animals even as adults. Humans are like all mammals, in that we need
to nurse as infants. We are supposed to drink milk from our mothers when we are
just born. However, this is where we differ from any other mammals. We continue
to drink milk even after we have passed our young stages of development. On top
of that, we drink the milk of other mammals. Why do we do this?
Humans
are such strange creatures. We like to think we are above other animals, but
are we really? We use animals for food, just like every other carnivore or
omnivore. Our animal instincts are not as evolved as we think. We choose to eat
the unfertilized eggs of a bird species, and drink the fluid of pregnant goats
and other mammals. As an idea, this sounds quite absurd. As a sociologist, it
is interesting to look at the food choices of people. Even though a large percentage of the human population is lactose intolerant, people still ingest
cows’ milk. Why are humans so apt to eat food that goes so far against our
natural instincts? Maybe we just want to get as far away from our animal side
as possible.
This is really interesting. We really do think that we are better than other animals but is that really just because we can talk and have all of these advancements. I think that is one problem that I have always had is saying my life is more important than another mammal. It is is crazy that when we were younger it is thought that we need our mother's milk to grow, stay alive, and survive, but this idea that we need milk is carried into our adult lives. It class we talked about the eco vs. ego and i think the eco makes more sense in the idea that we belong in the cycle with everything else in the world. But considering that we do not know what a natural human is, it becomes hard to distinguish what are and are not our natural instincts.
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