Only Eating Human Flesh
Janet Kuypers
1/17/24
After flying sixteen hours toward the sun
to a time zone eleven and a half hours early
Exhausted from the flight, I was offered a fish “pedicure”
with hundreds of fish in a long glass aquarium along the floor
I blindly sat down and started giggling
as hundreds of fish swam by to eat dead foot skin away
The New Delhi Times called this “aa bail mujhe maar” (आ बल म झ मार):
a problem humanity created, by exploiting thousands of animals
to create some extravagant, unneeded, unnecessary niche market
These Garra rufa fish are raised in tanks, imported into India, only
eating human flesh when starved of their plankton and vegetable diet
Giving the fish systemic bacterial infections
that are resistant to most antimicrobial medications,
and since this isn’t a medical procedure, there’s no oversight whatsoever
I did this in Delhi, thinking this was good.
Silly me. I should always remember:
when it comes to humans, the first thing they think is abuse,
and this vegetarian became a willing participant
in a system for the torture and abuse
for thousands and thousands and thousands —
how do we show love if we turn a blind eye
to give concern to our comfort instead?
Because, of course, giving ourselves comfort
is all well and good,
but wonder about the real cost of a feel-good,
step back, and embrace the big picture.
Because when we see the good one thing can do,
that’s the real comfort — for everyone.
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