explain the emotions of taking a life? All I can say is… it's nothing
like I thought it was going to be. I was very excited at first, having
purchased the chicken yesterday for cheap since it was Children's Day
here in Mozambique. I've seen people do it a couple of times, carved
the neck, let it bleed out, and then pour hot water to pluck the
feathers. I've even seen them carve with very dull blades. Well, with
my very sharp Calphalon, I thought it was going to be a snap.
I had to step on the legs and the wings and then hold the neck with
the left hand while cutting with the knife in the right hand. It takes
longer than you think, even with a very sharp knife, and while I was
shearing away at the tough neck skin, I could feel the chicken
struggling away for its life in my hand. At that time, I began to feel
a pang of sadness deep in my gut, and all I wanted to do was kill the
chicken faster. I didn't want it to suffer under the blade anymore,
and I became very serious with the knife. When the deed was done, and
the neck broken, I still had to hold down the body and the head to
bleed it out. That was a terrible feeling. You can just feel life
draining from the chicken with every wince under your hand. I don't
think I'd want to do it again. I'm sure I could probably get used to
killing chickens if it's the only thing I could do to eat it, but damn
it, why would I want to do that again if someone else could do it for
me? Does that make me a hypocrite if I like to eat meat but I don't
want to do the killing?
But you know, there's also this strange feeling of conquest
afterwards, like yea… that's right… I KILLED A CHICKEN!
Oh, and today was also Chama de Unidade (translated Torch of Unity),
where Mozambique has the tradition of carrying a torch from the
northernmost city to the southernmost city of the country. It's kind
of like the Olympics torch, except this one is supposed to represent
everyone joining hands in unity, every part of the country. Someone
told me that this tradition started after they got their independence
from the Portuguese and only occurs every 5 years. The torch would be
passed from people to people within city limits but would be held by
someone on a car going from town to town. Ofcourse, at night, they
stop to rest. So, this torch has been traveling for about 2 weeks now.
Boy, am I lucky that I got to enjoy this and the election while I
completed service here since these things occur every like 5 years.
Anyway, it was such a special occasion to me because we don't have
anything like this in America. I mean, we have the 4th of July, but
not everyone in the city comes together like the Mozambicans do here.
Sure, we have get-togethers, but mostly with our friends and family.
Here, when I say get-together, I mean GET-TOGETHER! As in the entire
town cancels work and school to await the arrival of the torch and
everyone comes out to try to touch it. It was so crazy. The entire
town! Now THAT'S what I call unity.
