2009-02-09T19:29:00.000-08:00

Hi, I’m 46009270. Perhaps you recognize me? I’m a black Calvin Klein passcase+ valet wallet with zigzag stitching, eight card slots, removable id window with one card slot and two bill slots, made in India. Yeah, I am a real piece of work. Designed for comfort and style. But like everyone, my life has its checkered past. Which is why you find me crammed into this drawer with the paper clips and used post its instead of cuddling up to a nice Coach purse.

It began and ended with my first job. I was a present. A lovely, young girl, named Rachelle, had bought me as a Christmas gift for her boyfriend, Andrew. They hadn’t seen each other over the Winter Break, so the reunion was exciting, happy filled with kisses and “I missed you so much.” Andrew did not appreciate my flashy style, but the happiness he felt, being with Rachelle and the obvious effort she put in his gift made me quite special to him. We hit it off from the beginning. He was not used to an accessory of my caliber. With flair, he proudly flipped out his ID at the movies, showing off my professional design.

That first month we spent together I began to really get to know the guy. Andrew was a self-proclaimed pacifist. He frequently made long-winded speeches, to anyone who would listen, even if it was just me, about how violence was the root of all evil. He had aspirations to have a career in international relations centering on peaceful dialogue and education. His favorite passage from his Lutheran teachings of the Bible was “Do not set yourself against the man who wrongs you. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn and offer him your left….” (X97) However Christianity was not a huge part of Andrew’s pacifism. He seemed to get this virtue of compassion towards others from an inner struggle. As the Buddha said “Friendliness is understood as the wish for others to be happy, and compassion as the wish to alleviate suffering. Both start with ourselves, by recognizing the fact of our own suffering and seeking to uproot its causes.” (97) The journey we had together was the beginning of Andrew’s journey to transform compassion for other humans into more of a Jainist ahimsa, peace towards all lives.

A Peaceful Existence...or so he thought

As January faded into February, Andrew started reading a book entitled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick. The plot centers on a bounty hunter who kills androids in the future. It seems abstract, but one part of the novel really changed Andrew’s whole outlook on life. The bounty hunter must administer empathy tests to the suspected androids, before he is allowed to blast them into smithereens.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

“Seated where he could catch the readings on the two gauges of the Voigt-Kampff testing apparatus, Rick Deckard said, ‘I’m going to outline a number of social situations. You are to express your reaction to each as quickly as possible. You will be timed, of course.’

Rick, selecting question three, said, ‘You are given a calf-skin wallet on your birthday.” Both gauges immediately registered past green and onto the red; the needles swung violently and then subsided.

‘I wouldn’t accept it,’ Rachael said. ‘Also I’d report the person who gave it to me to the police.’”

—Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep pg 48

Andrew began to test his reaction. He thought to himself, “Nobody I know would be so sinister as to purchase a leather wallet. Do they even make leather wallets anymore? Surely most wallets are made of some kind of plastic.” He tried to ignore the question, but his eyes kept staring at me saying “What if…”

A few days later Andrew and his good friend Austyn, were discussing what Andrew should buy Rachelle for Valentine’s Day. “Well,” Austyn said, “What did she get you for Christmas?”

“Oh this really nice wallet.” Andrew replied. He pulled me out and showed Austyn.

She felt my smooth hide and then gave Andrew a disgusted glare. “You realize this is leather right?

“What? No, it can’t be. They don’t really make leather wallets, and if they did, Rachelle certainly wouldn’t buy one.”

Sage Austyn, Imparted Truth to Andrew

Austyn shrugged her shoulders and dissipated in the crowd towards her next class. Andrew couldn’t concentrate the rest of the evening. He kept staring at me accusingly, rubbing his fingers over my flaps and pockets, waiting for me to say, “Hey, don’t feel so guilty, I am not real leather, I am just a really good knock off.” Andrew’s roommate, Will, asked him why he kept fiddling through his wallet. “Did you loose something?”

“I am afraid my wallet is leather…” Andrew replied, forlornly.

“Is that a bad thing?” Will said quizzically.

“Of course its bad! It means that some cow was cruelly killed, for my selfish desires.”

“Well what if the cow was killed humanely?” Will offered.

“Oh no, we watched a documentary in World lit. depicting how the cows were treated leading up to their slaughter. “To relocate the animals to a state where they can legally be killed, the animals must be shoed and roped together in preparation for a harrowing ‘death march,’ which could last for several days. Forced to walk through the heat and dust without food or water, coupled with the sheer stress of this terrifying experience for them, many of the animals collapse and are unable to continue.. but when the cattle become weary and grow faint, the bones in their tales are broken in an effort to get them back up on their feet…. Chili pepper and tobacco are also used to keep the animals walking. This practice is done by rubbing the pepper directly into their eyes, in order to stimulate the animal back onto his or her feet. (X718)”

Though Sacred, the Cow is Not Always Revered in India

“No,” Will said. “I bet most of the time they use cows they slaughtered for meat.”

“ ‘Remember leather is dead flesh. It is dead skin, and, therefore, natural for it to decompose and rot away unless treated with such potent substances as Chromium and other toxins.’ (X719) These chemical would be too dangerous to use close to meat we eat, which means rarely is leather made from a cow killed for meat.”

Will looked baffled. He pulled out his guide to ethics and morality, the Holy Bible, and shuffled through pages for guidance. “ ‘Then God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground. Genesis 1-26.’” So you see,” Will said, “God put these creatures here for our use. God made animals so that man could eat them, or make them into wallets or whatever he liked.”

Leather Bible? Paradox of Ethics

“The verse says man has “dominion” over the animals.” Andrew replied. “Which means we are to take care of them. It is like people in government. They have dominion over the citizens of the nation they are ruling, and they can choose to serve the people and take care of them, or they can exploit them and be cruel and harsh. Obviously God has given us great responsibility over these creatures, but that doesn’t mean we can exploit them. It does not justify us slaughtering them so I can have a fancy wallet.”

Andrew began rummaging through his desk for his old wallet. He pulled it out triumphantly, only to discover it too was made of leather. He was working himself in a frenzy. “I must find a new wallet, I cannot live with this kind of sin.” He snatched me up, only because I carried his essentials, and began roaming Austin, Texas for a new wallet. He poured through the University Co-op, surely they would have a decent substitute. But, every wallet in the Co-op was made out of authentic leather, fresh from Beevo himself. Andrew stared around at all the people at the cash register, pulling out their own fleshy leather wallets. He was scrambling up and down the Guadalupe Street, when Rachelle called. “Hey Andrew, I miss you,” She said. “Do you want to meet up for dinner.”

He didn’t know how to handle this situation. Should he tell her about my sinful conception? It would hurt her feelings. But he couldn’t keep using me. I had transformed from a symbol of happy Rachelle memories to starving cows being beaten across India. They met up for dinner, Andrew’s wallet search cut short. He couldn’t concentrate on Rachelle, my tortured past burnt into his mind. Finally he said, “Rachelle, I have got to tell you something…”

Her body tensed up. “What honey, is something wrong?”

“The wallet you gave me… I don’t know if I can keep it…. I think its made of leather.”

“No its not. I would never buy anything made of leather.” She grabbed me and began looking, like Andrew for some indicating feature, a tag or to see if I “moo”ed when she pinched me. “I don’t think its leather she said.”

I hoped Rachelle statement would satisfy Andrew, but it did not. Upon returning to his dorm Andrew Googled “Calvin Klein wallets.” He found my page and highlighted the words “pebbled leather,” then sent a link to Rachelle with a frowny face made from colons and parenthesis. He then began looking around his dorm, through his closet. He quickly discovered much of his precious things had similar tortured creation stories. His dress shoes-leather, his belts-leather. How could a guy of peace posses so many violently made products? What was Andrew going to do?

Rachelle convinced him to keep me, as a reminder or all the suffering that surrounds our daily life. Andrew is trying to become an ahimsic consumer. He has come to the conclusion that the reason violence occurs towards both humans and animals, is because consumers take no thought in what they buy. Andrew has these great ideas of ahimsa. He believes world peace is attainable. But as long as he makes personal purchases derived from greed and violence, his personal ahimsa will not be reached. Since his epiphany about my true identity, Andrew is eating far less meat, he has bought a new belt and of course replaced me with a cloth Kavu wallet from Whole Foods Provisions. Perhaps I didn’t end up with the glamorous life a Calvin Klein dreams, but I think my sacrifice helped Andrew to take strides towards ahimsa.

“Attached to things sensual, they bewail bitterly, and on account of desires, fail to get emancipation.”

—Acaranga Sutra

word count: 1,777

Leather Ahimsa