Somebody's Watching Me!
One time years ago, my nephew, Kasper, told me about the pet mouse, Sarah, in his classroom. "She is so cute! Her fur is very soft. I like petting her. Do you like mice, Aunt Meipo?" That did not resonate with me at all. "Nope. Mice are rodents. Rodents are pests. As a matter of fact, we just caught one in our house the other day." "Did you let it return to nature?", Kasper asked innocently. "Sort of. Uncle Mike threw the mouse out with the trap . . ." I tried to play it down without lying.
"WHAT??? You are murderers! You should go to jail! A mouse is a life, too. You took a life. You deserve going to jail!" Kasper just lost it, realizing what happened. I tried reasoning with the little boy, but he could not hear me when he was crying unconsolably. So, I thought maybe I should change subject.
"Your mom told me you really love to eat. What is your favorite food? Maybe we should go out and get a bite together some time?" The pathetic aunt turned to the lowly tactics of bribery. EATING? The boy was immediately distracted from his crying. "I love pork chops!" Kasper replied while still sobbing. "Oh, and I like chicken wings, too."
Hmm. What an interesting little animal right activist! I should go to jail because I took out a mouse in my house. Meanwhile, it is ok for him to eat pork chop and chicken wings. "Hey, Kasper, do you know where pork chop and chicken wings come from? Pigs and chickens have to die before you get your favorite foods. What do you think about that?"
Even though he was only a little boy, Kasper realized he was being challenged. "I didn't kill anybody. When we bought the meat, the animals were already dead. I am not responsible. I didn't do anything wrong." "But the butchers kill the animals so you get to buy their meat. The animals die because of you," I tried pushing him a little. "What do you mean? When we go to the butcher shop, the animals are already dead. What does it have to do with me?" At his age, Kasper could not quite connect the dots.
You think adults can connect dots much better and understand the logic. Nevertheless, their mentalities are not all that different from Kasper's. Maybe because people are used to seeing meat as something neatly wrapped in clear packages in a grocery store? And perhaps they are raised with chicken nuggets that do not resemble, in any shape or form, the animals with which they are made? People are very not prepared to deal with the fact that they are consuming the body of a once-living animal.
One time we were having some noodle soup with some Aikido friends. All of a sudden, a woman screamed and covered her face with her hands. "What is the matter?" Her boyfriend immediately jumped in like a super hero. "The shrimp! The shrimp! The head is still there. Its eyes are staring at me!!!" Without wasting one second, the super hero boyfriend snatched the whole shrimp out of her soup, snapped the head off and then handed the bowl of noodle soup back to his delicate girlfriend. "It's ok now, Babe. Nobody is staring at you anymore."
What followed was like miracle to me: With a big smile on her face, the woman dug in with her chopsticks. She picked up the shrimp and ate the whole thing in one big bite. Had I had a slightly shorter attention span, I would have forgotten that she was so freaked out by the creature just a moment ago.
Environmentalists may tell you how meat-eating increases your carbon foot print. Animal right activist may tell you how meat eating infringes the rights of animals. Followers of certain religions or philosophical path may tell you taking the life of another sentient being may build bad karma . . . At the end, eating meat or not is really a personal decision. And you'd better be aware of the implications.
My attitude? If you are going to eat meat, live with the fact that you are consuming the flesh of a being that once was alive. If you cannot even acknowledge that, you do not deserve to consume the remains of that animal.
The best funeral you can give to an animal killed for food is a very well prepared meal. You either don't consume meat or you eat everything you have got, Buy only what you need. The worst thing you can do is to take the animals' sacrifice lightly, cooked the meat terribly and end up throwing it away.
Have you ever heard of the saying, "You are what you eat"? It does not mean you become a shrimp or a pig. Given the animals gave themselves to support your life, part of them now make up part of you. Please live a righteous life and do good. Be grateful and honor the animals that died so that you live.
"WHAT??? You are murderers! You should go to jail! A mouse is a life, too. You took a life. You deserve going to jail!" Kasper just lost it, realizing what happened. I tried reasoning with the little boy, but he could not hear me when he was crying unconsolably. So, I thought maybe I should change subject.
"Your mom told me you really love to eat. What is your favorite food? Maybe we should go out and get a bite together some time?" The pathetic aunt turned to the lowly tactics of bribery. EATING? The boy was immediately distracted from his crying. "I love pork chops!" Kasper replied while still sobbing. "Oh, and I like chicken wings, too."
Hmm. What an interesting little animal right activist! I should go to jail because I took out a mouse in my house. Meanwhile, it is ok for him to eat pork chop and chicken wings. "Hey, Kasper, do you know where pork chop and chicken wings come from? Pigs and chickens have to die before you get your favorite foods. What do you think about that?"
Even though he was only a little boy, Kasper realized he was being challenged. "I didn't kill anybody. When we bought the meat, the animals were already dead. I am not responsible. I didn't do anything wrong." "But the butchers kill the animals so you get to buy their meat. The animals die because of you," I tried pushing him a little. "What do you mean? When we go to the butcher shop, the animals are already dead. What does it have to do with me?" At his age, Kasper could not quite connect the dots.
You think adults can connect dots much better and understand the logic. Nevertheless, their mentalities are not all that different from Kasper's. Maybe because people are used to seeing meat as something neatly wrapped in clear packages in a grocery store? And perhaps they are raised with chicken nuggets that do not resemble, in any shape or form, the animals with which they are made? People are very not prepared to deal with the fact that they are consuming the body of a once-living animal.
One time we were having some noodle soup with some Aikido friends. All of a sudden, a woman screamed and covered her face with her hands. "What is the matter?" Her boyfriend immediately jumped in like a super hero. "The shrimp! The shrimp! The head is still there. Its eyes are staring at me!!!" Without wasting one second, the super hero boyfriend snatched the whole shrimp out of her soup, snapped the head off and then handed the bowl of noodle soup back to his delicate girlfriend. "It's ok now, Babe. Nobody is staring at you anymore."
What followed was like miracle to me: With a big smile on her face, the woman dug in with her chopsticks. She picked up the shrimp and ate the whole thing in one big bite. Had I had a slightly shorter attention span, I would have forgotten that she was so freaked out by the creature just a moment ago.
Environmentalists may tell you how meat-eating increases your carbon foot print. Animal right activist may tell you how meat eating infringes the rights of animals. Followers of certain religions or philosophical path may tell you taking the life of another sentient being may build bad karma . . . At the end, eating meat or not is really a personal decision. And you'd better be aware of the implications.
My attitude? If you are going to eat meat, live with the fact that you are consuming the flesh of a being that once was alive. If you cannot even acknowledge that, you do not deserve to consume the remains of that animal.
The best funeral you can give to an animal killed for food is a very well prepared meal. You either don't consume meat or you eat everything you have got, Buy only what you need. The worst thing you can do is to take the animals' sacrifice lightly, cooked the meat terribly and end up throwing it away.
Have you ever heard of the saying, "You are what you eat"? It does not mean you become a shrimp or a pig. Given the animals gave themselves to support your life, part of them now make up part of you. Please live a righteous life and do good. Be grateful and honor the animals that died so that you live.
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