"Culture"

Think about it.

The Spanish arrived in South America and called the natives uncivilized and without culture because they were bloodthirsty and primitive.

But the Romans had gladiator fights, and somehow that's "culture."

And the Spanish have bullfights.

I'm actually more than 95% ashamed of myself for going - however, the 5% appreciation is because it solidified in my mind that I'm 100% against it. Culture or not. Six bulls died last night for absolutely no reason at all, and I paid money to go in and watch.

It's true, there's a lot of "technique" involved. It's supposed to be a showdown between the man and the bull, a place to prove the courage and valor of each, in essence, a representation of the age-old struggle between man and beast for domination.

Man wins in the end. It's a bittersweet victory - and for me, it makes them as "primitive and uncultured" as the indigenous peoples in the Americas.

So maybe I'm a strong supporter of animal rights. Maybe I'm unappreciative of cultural traditions. Maybe I'm just religious.

Moses 3:19:
"And out of the ground I, the Lord God, formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and commanded that they should come unto Adam, to see what he would call them; and they were also living souls; for I, God, breathed into them the breath of life..."

If God gave those bulls the breath of life, who are we to take it away?

I'm not saying it's never okay to kill animals. I instead side with the Native Americans - whose belief was that when man took the life from a fellow animal, it was never without a purpose - and they prayed for the soul of the animal to rest peacefully and to forgive them. Then they wasted nothing.

Somehow I don't think "cultural traditions" are going to be on the list of acceptable purposes at the end of the day. It was a waste - a waste of a beautiful life, a beautiful animal, a beautiful spirit - now in a better place than this rather messed-up world we've got down here.