Admittedly, when the pandemic afforded me the opportunity to launch this blog, I aspired to lofty themes. Topics that would stretch the mind and startle the heart with “looking at life and the world through a different lens.” Now perhaps I’ve fallen victim to the trajectory of Covid-19 and its indifference to society’s outcry. Maybe I’ve been dizzied by the thin air of the upper atmosphere where lofty thoughts reside. Or it could just be that you’re about to encounter the bizarre space within my cranium. Enter at your own risk.
I’ve been pondering the problem of porcine punishment. Why are pigs the brunt of so much of our vitriol? When someone exhibits disgusting behavior, we instinctively cry out “You pig!” Anyone who offends our olfactory system “smells like a pig!” A parent entering a teenager’s bedroom condemns it “a pigsty!” To eat too much food, especially junk food, is to “pig out.” Someone profusely perspiring is told they are “sweating like a pig.” When searching for the most stinging insult, one can hardly do better than some version of “swine.”
Maybe it’s derivative of their treatment in the Bible. In Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 pigs are deemed ritualistically unclean. Matthew 7:6 warns us not to toss our pearls before swine. In Luke 15 the prodigal son hit rock bottom when he took the job of feeding swine, and in the process became unclean (in more ways than one). Finally, in Mt. 8:30-32, Mk. 5 :11-14, and Lk. 8: 32-33, Jesus himself chooses to cast a Legion of demons into a large herd of swine that promptly charges down the hillside and over a bluff to be drowned in the lake. This was not just a parable. Pigs died!
Pity for the Plight of Pigs
Weren’t there other animals with cloven hooves to choose for the unclean designation? Aren’t there worse places to throw away our valued jewels? As for the swineherd’s loss, maybe we would be having a different discussion if he had been a shepherd.
You dress like a pig, look like a pig, smell like a pig, eat like a pig, sound like a pig, are as fat as a pig (or porculent, to be less offensive). Why the porcine whipping boy for the royal court of humankind?
A rhetorical question, of course, since we’re not actually having a discussion notwithstanding the earlier reference to shepherds. But if we WERE have a dialogue, a counterpoint might draw from the following list of facts available to anyone with a connection (pun intended) to Google, Siri, or Alexa.
- Pigs do not “eat like pigs” or “pig out.” They prefer to eat slowly and savor their food.
- Pigs are clean animals. If given sufficient space, they will be careful not to soil the area where they sleep or eat.
- Pigs don’t “sweat like pigs”; they are actually unable to sweat. They like to bathe in water or mud to keep cool, and they actually prefer water to mud.
- Pigs are extraordinarily intelligent. They are curious and insightful animals who are widely accepted as being smarter than young children of at least 3 years of age, dogs, and even some primates.
- Pigs have a tremendous sense of smell. The large round disk of cartilage at the tip of the snout is connected to muscle that gives it extra flexibility and strength for rooting in the ground.
- People with allergies sometimes have pigs as pets because they have hair not fur and they do not shed.
- Pigs appear to have a good sense of direction and have found their way home over great distances.
- There are numerous stories of pigs that have saved the lives of humans. For example, a pet pig called Pru pulled her owner out of a muddy bog, and another, Priscilla, saved a young boy from drowning.
- Wild pigs play an important role in managing ecosystems and maintaining biodiversity. By rooting, and thus disturbing the soil, they create areas for new plant colonization. They also spread fruit plants by dispersing their seeds.
One could certainly make the case that pigs have been unfairly targeted – and with misinformation to boot. Although my curiosity is piqued by a potential debate over such ideas, it’s being supplanted by the smell of bacon wafting from the kitchen, where my wife is preparing a BLT for lunch. Think I’ll join her.
