THE TEARS OF A BULL BEFORE SLAUGHTER 💔
I recently saw a video that has deeply disturbed me and I cannot erase it from my mind.
A bull stood tied with ropes, moments away from slaughter, crying like a helpless child.
Not metaphorically. Not exaggerated. Real tears streamed continuously from his eyes until the ground beneath him became wet. His entire body shook uncontrollably with fear. He pulled desperately against the ropes, looked around in panic, and stared into the faces of the people surrounding him as though begging for someone - anyone - to save him.
And in his terrified eyes, there was a question no human being should ever ignore:
“What have I done to deserve this?”
He did not understand religion. He did not understand rituals. He did not understand sacrifice.
He had the sentience of a three years old human child.
He only understood fear. He only understood pain. He only understood that death was coming.
Imagine the horror of smelling blood in the air… hearing the cries of other animals… watching bodies being skinned before your own eyes… and realising that you are next.
People often speak of animals as though they are emotionless objects. But this bull cried, trembled, resisted, and pleaded for life exactly the way a terrified child would. Science itself confirms that such animals experience fear, attachment, trauma, and emotional suffering at profound levels.
What shattered me the most was this:
The bull trusted humans.
Perhaps the very same hands that once fed him, stroked his head, and raised him from infancy were now dragging him towards death. He could not comprehend betrayal. He could not understand why the people he depended upon had suddenly become the source of his terror.
And yet this horrifying act is often dressed in the language of “faith,” “reward,” and “piety.”
But when a living being stands before us shaking with fear, crying uncontrollably for mercy, looking into our eyes wanting to live… how can ending that life ever become an act pleasing to God?
Can compassion and cruelty truly coexist in the same act?
Can the Creator of mercy really find joy in the tears of a helpless creature?
I do not know what theology says.
But my heart says those tears were not meaningless.