posted December 11, 2007 09:04 AM
Death is a part of life.
One thing is devoured by another.
Even plants scream when you eat them.
But human beings are in a unique position to create their reality...Vegetarianism,
and, to a greater extent, Veganism,
are movements in the direction of life,
and, what Albert Schweitzer called, "reverence for life".
These practical movements represent choices,
which, in there turn, represent ideals and intentions.
By showing reverence for life we are sending an intention
into the universe which honors life beyond the self,
and actively seeks co-operation with an increasingly wider variety of lifeforms.
It stands to reason that such an intention may have the effect, ultimately,
of safe-guarding our own souls from being victimized by competing energies,
as well as being forced to incarnate at too frequent, and too short, intervals.
It may be that, as we do unto those below us,
so shall it be done to us by those from above.
In addition to this, it is healthy for most people, and,
for those with whom a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle
may prove less than healthy, on the physical level,
there is always the consolation that is it, at least, ethical.
What goes on at the vast majority of slaughterhouses is horrific.
And I mean that the animals experience the equivalent
of what characters in any hollywood gorefest would experience;
with the exception that this isnt the cinema.
This is real life.
If they had to watch it being prepared,
- if that was the price of dinner; just to watch, -
I think most people would rather not eat meat or poultry.
Its a recorded fact that, on average, the person who works in a slaughterhouse
is considerably more violent and sadistic than the person who does not.
Tape of workers horribly abusing animals have reached the press.
And the so-called "living" conditions at these places are abhorrent.
Crammed into stalls barely large enough to conatin them.
No prisoner in Alcatraz had it worse.
Are these not our brothers and sisters?
~ HSC
(recovering flesheater)