22 December 2010

Food, health, morality

 
I recently had an epiphany.

For years I've been toying with vegetarianism, for several reasons:

When I think about it (and I try not to, especially while eating, but that's getting harder to do all the time) I am horrified by the meat industry. The conditions those animals live in turns my stomach.

On the other hand, I have no problem with hunting (if it's done humanely - which means killing what you hit, preferably with the first shot), and for a reason other than to hang a trophy on the wall. Hunting for food, fishing, raising a beef or pork or chickens for the table, that's fine with me, if it's done humanely.

I don't like animals being treated badly. Anyone who has ever had a pet knows they have feelings, and that's not limited to dogs and cats. Cows have feelings too (lol, I can see all the tiny violins playing - just shut the hell up, quit laughing, and get off of my blog). Killing something just because it's there and just because you can ...is morally wrong in my book.

I once quit seeing a guy because he was standing on my porch, deliberately crushing ants with his boots. Those ants weren't attacking, he wasn't going to eat them (or feed them to his anteater) and they weren't even trespassing on his porch - this was my porch. I didn't say anything about it, I just quit going out with him.

Secondly, following a vegetarian diet is healthier. At least that's one school of thought. Yes, there are overweight vegetarians, even overweight vegans, but they probably don't have clogged arteries. Actually the health aspect should be third on my list, because second is...

For the most part, I don't like meat that much. Sure, a steak, done right, once in a while, I can eat that. Bacon - don't think I could give up bacon. I love oysters (the swimmy kind, not the beef). Salami on toast, yeah, that's nice once in a while too. But mostly I prefer the meat flavor --as in gravy-- rather than the meat itself.

So, there was my predicament. I don't wanna eat meat but I don't wanna give up gravy or bacon. Then came the epiphany. Are you ready for it? Here it is:

Don't want meat? Don't eat it! Want bacon? Eat bacon! Have some gravy! Say what?! It does not have to be "all or nothing." It Does Not Have To Be All Or Nothing! Duh!

Oh boy, am I dumb sometimes.

No comments: