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My aunt called me the other day asking if I wanted her help to buy a goat to kill on Idul Adha, the Muslim Day of Sacrifice. She had already bought a cow for Rp 7 million ($742) as a to be slaughtered on that day on behalf of her household. The meat, she said, would be distributed to the less fortunate living near her area.

I asked her where she was keeping the cow in the meantime and she said the poor animal was already tethered in the backyard waiting for the fateful day. And no, she had not given it a name. It wasn’t a pet.

I then suggested that rather than buying a goat for slaughter, she could buy lots of fruits, vegetables and other healthy food for the same amount of money and give those to her needy neighbors instead of the goat meat that would most likely end up as sate kambing or goulash.

I reminded her of my reservations about eating meat, let alone encouraging other people to consume the stuff. It’s not good for one’s health or the environment.

Besides, I always shudder whenever I see those sorry-looking goats on sale, tethered at the sides of the road munching at goodness knows what unhealthy stuff as they await their judgment day under the knife. Or the sight of the poor cows with sad eyes being transported on the back of trucks. It is as if they know what bloody fate lies ahead of them.

My aunt told me not to be silly. Idul Adha is not about healthy food and charity but a symbol of sacrifice. Once upon a time in the dawn of religion God, who was a lot more severe and demanding in those days, wanted Abraham to prove his devotion to him by sacrificing the one thing that he loved most, his son.

Abraham, despite his anguish, was obedient and prepared to sacrifice his son (Ismael or Isaac, depending on the Muslim or Judeo-Christian version of the story) on the altar whereupon God, satisfied with Abraham’s obedience, sent an angel to stay his hand and conjured up a lamb to be offered up instead.

If the gesture is symbolic, I suggest we could always make offerings shaped like a goat. What kind of sacrifice would it be without an animal being killed, my aunt explained patiently. You need to shed blood. Muslims need to make a sacrifice on sacrifice day. What kind of sacrifice would it be with fruits and vegetables?

Out of curiosity, I asked if she believed Abraham and his son ate the sacrificial lamb or gave it away to the poor. And why was she slaughtering a cow when God substituted Abraham’s son for a lamb (or was it a goat?)? Where did the cow idea come from? Why not just stick to the goat? Especially if a lot of the cows in this country are actually imported from abroad. Why are we enriching foreign cattle farmers?

She said she got a cow because she was well-off enough to be able to afford it, and the amount of meat she could give would be more than a goat could offer. This brought me to two other points.

First, if the important thing is to shed blood and you can basically sacrifice any animal depending on what you can afford, then why stop at goats and cows? How about sacrificing chickens, ducks and fish as well, particularly those who cannot afford bigger animals? The cheapest price for a goat these days, by the way, is about Rp 1 million, the monthly minimum wage. This way, all religious faithful could perform some sort of animal sacrifice and shed blood. Otherwise, the sacrificial act is a religious ritual that is a privilege of only those who can afford it, changing the meaning of the sacrifice to alms (or in this case, meat) for the poor.

The second point is, where is the real element of sacrifice if what you’re doing is not a big deal? I argued that I thought the whole point of Abraham’s sacrifice was to show a love for the Almighty that was far greater than the love he had for his son: thus his willingness to sacrifice his son, the most precious thing in his life. What sort of sacrifice is there in buying a cow or goat you can readily afford and distributing the meat in plastic bags to people who are not really in desperate need of animal protein?

The way I see it, the only sacrifice here is made by the poor cow that has to have its throat slit open and blood drained while still very much alive and scared out of its wits.

By this time my aunt was beginning to lose her patience. “Well, are you going to get a goat or not?”

All right, I said, but only because I’m sacrificing my principles. Which I suppose are my most precious possession.

Desi Anwar is a t elevision anchor and writer . She can be contacted at www.desianwar.com and www.dailyavocado.net.