Jack S.

11/6/14

Source: Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches, by Marvin Harris

                                          Thoughts and Reflections on: Holy Cow

Cows are not usually looked at as holy in our day to day lives in America, but in India the cow is not only important but holy. The cow has so many different uses in everyday life that people in India would not be able to live without. For example, the cow makes fuel, flooring, fertilizer, milk, meat, leather, and traction all possible for the people in India. If one animal could give our community so much we would probably believe it was holy also. This is the real reason the cows are holy. They bring so much to the community and make so many things possible that they become a vital part of life there so people think of it as a holy animal. In America we use cows primarily for food like burgers or steak and also for milk. We use chemicals for fertilizer, wood or stone for flooring, gasoline for fuel, and have factories build huge tractors. All of these are much less environmentally friendly than what the Indians do. If we could have as many uses for cows as the Indians and use them as efficiently than we could save lots of money, energy, and even help make America more efficient in the things that we use. India uses their cows much more efficiently which also makes them for environmentally friendly because they don't use factories for tractors, they don't cut down trees for flooring, they don't use harmful chemicals for fertilizer, and they overall cherish what they have and what they are given more than we do in America.