The longer I write this blog, I find my inspiration comes from some interesting and unique places. When I first started writing, I would get within a week of a deadline and think, "What on earth can I write about?!” But, for several months now, everyday happenings, sights and sounds seem to spark ideas. Which is exactly what happened when I heard this song lyric:

“I have this thing where I get older, but just never wiser…”

If you listen to mainstream radio at all or have daughters (or granddaughters) who love pop music, you may have heard this line. It is the opening lyric of a song called “Anti-Hero” by Taylor Swift. My 9-year-old is an obsessed “Swifty,” so I have probably heard the song close to 1,000 times since its release last October, and yet I realized I didn’t know what it meant. What is an anti-hero? And why did my brain keep pushing me to write about it?

It turns out, anti-heroes are all around us, and you are familiar with many, even if not the term. Jay Gatsby, the protagonist of The Great Gatsby, for example, or Walter White, the teacher-turned-drug lord in Breaking Bad. So, what does any of this have to do with the meat and poultry industry? Well, I have concluded our industries share some characteristics of the anti-hero — morally complex, imperfect but well-intentioned, stubborn to change.

Follow me for a minute … our industry has been (and continues to be) villainized over and over for various reasons: how much money it makes, its environmental footprint, labor challenges. But anyone who really knows the industry knows that, at our core, we have a passion for feeding the world.

The fact that deep down inside we are GOOD is what draws people to the anti-hero. But, in order to be seen as the anti-hero rather than the villain, we have to let consumers in. We have to let them see how good we really are. I am not talking about telling them more FACTS about where food comes from or sharing the gory DETAILS of how we harvest animals. I mean introducing them to the PEOPLE and the HEART of our industry.

There is another lyric in “Anti-Hero” that struck a chord:

“It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem, it’s me.”

Friends: Are we the problem? Are we the reason our critics can’t see the nobleness of what we do and get on our side, as we naturally do for the anti-hero?

When are we likable? Transparent? Vulnerable? We tell our stories, mostly in the form of fighting back, tossing out facts and figures and science in defense. Understandable reaction to being painted as the villain, but not likely to endear us to the consumer. And, we do it over and over and expect the same result. We’ve all heard the old adage … that is the definition of insanity.

Maybe 2023 can be the year that we start to try new things. Set out to not just get older, but also wiser. Challenge ourselves to be more vulnerable — to show our critics our redeeming qualities far outweigh any of the questions.

I want to leave you with one last line from the song:

“It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero.”

Being emotionally invested in our industry and in its mission can be exhausting. But we do it anyway. After all, we feed the world, which is really quite heroic if you ask me.

Rooting for the anti-hero

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