This is why I really would like to be a vegetarian. But it presents challenges that I'm too lazy to overcome. In other words... it's just inconvenient.
Hmmm... when I go to Confession should I include "Forgive me Father, I ate meat every day this week"?
I share pretty much the same sentiments. (Absent the Catholic bits, but that’s neither here nor there.) For the moment, I’m trying to pursue (part of the time) an avenue in which the creatures I consume for sustenance and gustatory pleasure are treated humanely and dispatched quickly and without avoidable antecedent/anticipatory stressors. Since death comes for all of us (I rationalize), it’s coming unexpectedly soon is a lesser insult, and a “good death” might be a good trade-off. (Of course, all this is a set of concepts all of which raise the question of the extent of animal consciousness—are they actually at all aware of of their own necessarily impending death, and the fact that such means there really must be an end to their time existing as they currently are, etc., etc.?)
And then I remind myself that the vegetarian route should probably be full-on organic, no pesticides, etc. The death throes of organophosphate poisoning, or pyrethroid toxicity, are often brief, but also equally often ugly.
Of course, one can’t forget travel, either. It’s estimated that the U. S. sees about a million large animals (deer, elk, moose), several million more smaller mammals, and over 300 million birds killed by motorized vehicles, and not all of these deaths are swift, or painless. All so we can get ourselves (or our stuff) from here to there most expediently.
I guess there’s just no end to the problem short of treating every potentially sentient creature with kindness and respect, which probably necessitates universal speed limits of about 20 mph, massive changings in animal farming, and more. All of which is, as you said, inconvenient.
I truly don’t have a good answer, or at least not yet.
Thank you, Deb! That’s a lovely thing, coming from someone who I know thinks and feels deeply about such things. Every day I think about how important it is, I think, to live with and as a part of what we often call ‘the natural world’, instead of trying to be separate and ‘above’ and, in the end, actually against the world and it’s living things. We should think of ourselves as siblings to other creatures; instead, we’re often a scourge.
This is why I really would like to be a vegetarian. But it presents challenges that I'm too lazy to overcome. In other words... it's just inconvenient.
Hmmm... when I go to Confession should I include "Forgive me Father, I ate meat every day this week"?
I share pretty much the same sentiments. (Absent the Catholic bits, but that’s neither here nor there.) For the moment, I’m trying to pursue (part of the time) an avenue in which the creatures I consume for sustenance and gustatory pleasure are treated humanely and dispatched quickly and without avoidable antecedent/anticipatory stressors. Since death comes for all of us (I rationalize), it’s coming unexpectedly soon is a lesser insult, and a “good death” might be a good trade-off. (Of course, all this is a set of concepts all of which raise the question of the extent of animal consciousness—are they actually at all aware of of their own necessarily impending death, and the fact that such means there really must be an end to their time existing as they currently are, etc., etc.?)
And then I remind myself that the vegetarian route should probably be full-on organic, no pesticides, etc. The death throes of organophosphate poisoning, or pyrethroid toxicity, are often brief, but also equally often ugly.
Of course, one can’t forget travel, either. It’s estimated that the U. S. sees about a million large animals (deer, elk, moose), several million more smaller mammals, and over 300 million birds killed by motorized vehicles, and not all of these deaths are swift, or painless. All so we can get ourselves (or our stuff) from here to there most expediently.
I guess there’s just no end to the problem short of treating every potentially sentient creature with kindness and respect, which probably necessitates universal speed limits of about 20 mph, massive changings in animal farming, and more. All of which is, as you said, inconvenient.
I truly don’t have a good answer, or at least not yet.
Perry,
I can feel how much you care.
How much you wish you had an answer.
Thank you for thinking so hard
and giving us your best thoughts and insights.
All creatures experience fear and pain.
All creatures
except suicidal humans
want to live.
I'm a vegetarian who rescues
bugs and worms and whatever else
and watches carefully for animals
as I drive.
I love all living creatures
and seek to protect them.
That includes the humans
on both sides of our great divide.
Unfortunately both sides
are currently ramping up
to take their enemies
(the other side of America)
to the slaughterhouse.
I wish I could protect and save them
the way I rescue all
living creatures I love.
Thank you, Deb! That’s a lovely thing, coming from someone who I know thinks and feels deeply about such things. Every day I think about how important it is, I think, to live with and as a part of what we often call ‘the natural world’, instead of trying to be separate and ‘above’ and, in the end, actually against the world and it’s living things. We should think of ourselves as siblings to other creatures; instead, we’re often a scourge.
yes yes Perry
we are siblings!
protectors of each other
in our natural state
in our natural world
this is the day
the Lord has made
let us rejoice
and be kind in it