Walking away from Omelas

Sometimes, authors in recent history have created works which are so meaningful that their lessons echo throughout conversations across the world, and find continuous relevance as history continues to unfold. It may surprise you, then, to learn that this article will also cover animal experimentation.

The recent footage, leaked by animal welfare NGOs, depicts horrors in Hamburg’s Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology. We witnessed monkeys kept alone in tiny metal cages, dogs lying in their own blood and faeces and the cruel mishandling of cats. This week I woke up, comfortable in bed, and spared a thought for the horrible things happening around the world at that very moment of which I was unaware.

It reminded me of a story by Ursula Le Guin, called The

Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. Read on if you do not mind being spoiled; it is a short story which stands out for its moral and no delight is lost in knowing its story beforehand. Speaking of delight – the story takes place in an idyllic utopia known as ‘Omelas’. It is the summer solstice, which is celebrated with a wondrous festival and a race featuring young people on horseback.

However, all is not as it seems in Omelas. When people are old enough, they learn the terrible secret which keeps the utopia afloat. Omelas may only exist in apparent bliss, however, if an unlucky child is kept locked in eternal darkness, filth and misery.

Upon learning this shocking truth, most eventually come to terms with it and continue to enjoy Omelas. Some, however, walk away into the unknown, unable to live with the burden of knowing they subsist on that torture.

This story carries many lessons today, especially as humanity’s lack of sustainability is coming at the expense of an apocalypse in the natural world, as the Sixth Mass Extinction unfolds around us.

Closer to home and blood which is more directly on our hands, however, can be found in animal testing labs and industrial scale farming which exists by virtue of torture and misery.

Here I draw a contrast between sustainable and responsible smaller-scale farming that does not require any comparable level of animal suffering. I will not judge in that regard, lest I be a gruesome hypocrite. Yet, it is an unavoidable fact that the way we live today has a corresponding toll in cruelty that goes unseen and often unfelt. More often than not, we also live at the expense of our fellow man.

I cannot walk away from Omelas, for it is all around us. I can, however, ask that we try to reform our system. That conversation, however, is one we are having already, and I hopefully do not need to convince you of that. It is worth considering the tale of Omelas, however, the next time we wish to indulge ourselves.