Parents should steer clear of selling pets
Steaks high when children’s livestock sold for processing at Stock Show

I’m not originally from Texas, so I may not understand all of the various rituals and customs that go on here, but I must say I was disturbed by the Fort Worth Stock Show’s Sale of Champions and the attention given to it by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Virtually the entire front section of the Sunday edition was dedicated to a sale of animals for different oil firms, meat companies and steakhouses.

The fact that this is deemed more important than all other national and local news for some unearthly reason is strange enough. But the things that go on at these shows and the ways in which they’re glorified are what really bother me.

The huge headlines of the paper screamed out “$105,000.” Yes, Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House actually paid that much money for a single steer. I can’t even fathom how anyone could ever justify spending that much on a few steak dinners.

Couldn’t this money have been put to a little better use by going toward, say, different charities or at least contributing to Alex Rodriguez’s salary?

The whole event is given an immense amount of attention and is praised for the money raised and the tradition involved, but all I see is the overwhelming sense of depression that accompanies all the cash.

This whole tradition seems a little out of whack, but what upsets me most is the trauma these shows cause on the children, who are heavily encouraged to participate.

The sad thing is nearly all of the families auctioning off their animals have young children, who have been put in charge of caring for the animals and, in many cases, have grown up along side of these pets.

Most of the kids have raised these animals almost by themselves and are suddenly being told they need to part ways with their beloved pets and friends so that Mommy and Daddy can go on that cruise they’ve been planning for years.

Some children are even pictured watching or turning away in horror as their pets are moved along the conveyor belt to be “processed.”

I don’t know about you, but even at my age now, I’d be emotionally scarred if I had to watch my dog get shoved through a slaughterhouse. And do they think the kids don’t know what’s going on if adults just tell them the animals are being “processed” and not being chopped into pieces?

Honestly, how does a parent rationalize this to a child?

“Well son, we’re selling old Buck to some nice people who are going to slaughter him and slice him up. But hey, if you play your cards right, when Mommy and I get back from traveling Europe off of Buck, we’ll buy you a slab of his ribs for dinner.

“And, we’ll throw in a Playstation 2 if it’ll get you to quit crying.”

If that’s all the parents have to do to make their kids happy, then they went horribly wrong somewhere in their child-raising
methods.

I’m not even a vegetarian, and this disturbs me. It’s one thing to kill the animals, but it becomes a little immoral to do so once a child considers the animal to be a part of the family.

After all, I don’t think I could ever forgive my parents if they sold my dog to a restaurant.

Jordan Blum is a sophomore broadcast journalism major from New Orleans.
He can be reached at (j.d.blum@student.tcu.edu)

Editorial policy: The content of the Opinion page does not necessarily represent the views of Texas Christian University. Unsigned editorials represent the view of the TCU Daily Skiff editorial board. Signed letters, columns and cartoons represent the opinion of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board.

Letters to the editor: The Skiff welcomes letters to the editor for publication. Letters must be typed, double-spaced, signed and limited to 250 words. To submit a letter, bring it to the Skiff, Moudy 291S; mail it to TCU Box 298050; e-mail it to skiffletters@tcu.edu or fax it to 257-7133. Letters must include the author’s classification, major and phone number. The Skiff reserves the right to edit or reject letters for style, taste and size restrictions.