Henry the Dismayed
- Jennifer Hill
- Mar 20
- 2 min read
Greetings.
While the building of linguistic bridges can generate mutual understanding, I have discovered that knowledge of another’s experience has the potential to create an unpleasant level of awareness and subsequent discomfort. Let me explain…
As evidence of my dedication to the Patch Translation Project, I’ve been conducting interviews with Jorge the Boar. My aim has been to assess his linguistic impediments and to chart his potentially limited range of emotion. Thus, I have been taken aback to learn that as a piglet and young boar, he suffered neglect at the hands of his previous Feeders. He was not allowed the company of other pigs, rarely saw the light of day, and received only small portions of unappetizing pig pellets for feed. It is likely that his unfortunate tongue thrust resulted from frostbite due to inadequate shelter.
I must admit that Jorge’s experience has challenged my world view. As a kitten, I assumed that all young were gently moved from place to place by Junior Feeders, fed upon demand, and petted for hours a day, albeit while wearing the occasional cape or colorful string of Mardi Gras beads. Now I encounter the unthinkable and must allow for the possibility that I led a pampered existence, waited upon paw and tail by attentive humans.
To add to my ongoing consternation, Jorge informed me that he was fully aware of the deficiencies of his treatment, and that, while it required lengthy conversations with his comrade pigs and painful reflection, he has come to terms with his past and now lives joyfully in the present. In fact, he referred to himself as a creature of “fully actualized peaceful pigness.”
Consideration of Jorge’s disclosure gives me pause. It might be inappropriate of me to pity him, or to consider myself among those most downtrodden and oppressed.
In dismay,
Henry
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