Look at the dog in the picture. If you are a pet person like I am, then you've probably drooled over him for half an hour already. In extreme cases, such as mine, you might even have resorted to baby talk. If you're not much of a pet person, you probably thought, Hm... a dog. That's definitely an aesthetic improvement from the guy who is usually on there. What I am fairly certain of is that nobody looked at Seamus and went, Yum! That sure looks delicious!
Why is it that puppies, kittens, little bunny rabbits, etc., bring out our most gentle, loving, protective instincts, whereas when we sit down to a meal, we are unable to find the same compassion in our hearts for cows, chickens, fish or turkeys?
The thing is that we have real personal interactions with the pet animals. We feed them, we walk them, we play with them and we cuddle them when we sleep. When you come home from a hard day at the office, your dog usually greets you with more enthusiasm than your spouse does. Simply put, we love them, and we know they love us.
On the other hand, we have hardly any interaction with the animals we eat. When was the last time you petted a pig? How many people do you know who have gamboled around in a sunny meadow with a calf? The people who have would never eat them, in much the same way Calvin would never eat Hobbes.
To love all creatures and to live in harmony is an instinct with which we are born. Unfortunately we are taught to suppress and obliterate these natural instincts as a part of a process called growing up. You will see proof of this in young children. As health consultant Harvey Diamond pointed out, a little child, in the company of a rabbit and an apple, will almost never eat the rabbit and play with the apple. If you know a kid who would do so, contact Mr. Diamond immediately, for he has agreed to buy a new car for anyone who does. You can use it to drive the child to therapy.
Often parents have to fend off very incisive questions about the source of their meat. In a sad case of misguided love, many parents (who are, in their defense, grown-ups) tend to gloss over things or blatantly lie about them because they are afraid the child will refuse to eat meat and therefore will starve to death.
It is an extremely popular myth that vegetarians are weak, sickly people, thin and weedy, barely supporting life. Martina Navratilova, without a doubt the greatest female tennis player of all time, is vegan. She still is winning world titles at age 52.
Another sad stereotype is that of the granola-eating, tree-hugging, vegan hippie. Not that there is anything wrong with being one of those; I am firmly fixed in that category myself. The point is that vegetarianism is not limited to such people. From Jerry Seinfeld and Alicia Silverstone to Carl Lewis and half the Indian cricket team, people in all walks of life are turning to a vegetarian lifestyle.
There are many reasons to go vegan. If the basic empathy for other creatures is not enough, there are the enormous health benefits. If you care about the environment, consider the enormous levels of pollution caused by the leather, meat and dairy industries. For someone who is interested in spiritual development, vegetarianism is a good way to control the impulses and desires of the mind, while developing love and compassion for all life. For many the reason to give up meat is the atrocities committed on animals in factory farms. To quote an unknown author:
May those who oppose capital punishment for humans extend that protection to animals as well. Those who are pro-life would logically become vegetarian. Those who are pro-choice would not want to impose their wills upon the body of a cow
sheep or pig.
Let us extend basic compassion and love to all around us, living at peace with all creatures. It is not difficult. All you need is love.
-Bhaskar Raman is a graduate student in Journalism. Send him an e-mail at bhaskar.raman.1@ohiou.edu to find out more about the vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. 17
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