Why Vegetarianism?

Last night I watched The Power of Myth on VHS. Bill Moyer’s interview of Joseph Campbell about storytelling gave me new insight into my reasons for living as a vegetarian.

Living as a Vegetarian
I for over ten years, I have identified with this simple maxim: Since I do not need to kill animals to live, then I should not kill them. I lived as a vegan for most of those years, and have only begun eating eggs in the past two years. This change came after kidney failure as I adjusted some basic habit to give myself more rest and more vitality. I now recognize there are benefits to eating animal proteins.

By living as a vegetarian, I raise awareness about food issues, and do not support the agro-business juggernauts, which defile nature to make a profit. At restaurants or in social situations, I am neither militant nor condescending towards meat eaters (or the host), but I stick to my principles. Sometimes people ask my why I am vegetarian, and this opens the door for a civil but direct conversation about the concomitant damage of eating meat. People make up their own minds about their diet, but at least know that making a few different choices can have profound impact.

In primary cultures, killing and eating an animal is a sacred event––not the mundane consumption of a commodity. I can understand sacrificing a cow for the village to eat on a special occasion. It provides the community with the sustenance necessary to remain healthy. But treating cattle as products for profit and a means to feeding Americans’ self-righteous appetite for meat at every meal is indefensible. Having a cow or goat on the farm to make milk products is far different than raising the animals in stalls, cutting their horns, and pumping them with hormones to increase milk production. The slaughter process is even more sickening. The animals are killed in fear––often not quickly––and with no respect. Fear produces adrenaline, and I do not want to eat fear.

Joseph Campbell
In the video last night, Campbell said that hunters undergo rituals to alleviate their guilt for killing the animal. Through ritual the hunters or communities ask forgiveness to show respect for the animal’s spirit. Through ritual, they also may entertain or appease the animal’s community to fulfill a requirement for it to come back and allow itself to be hunted again.

While I have long felt buying industrial meat at the grocery store disrespects animals, I now realize I have been missing a ritual to address my guilt. I avoid guilt by not eating the animal. But if I were stranded or in a different environment (one without an abundance of food and alternative protein choices) I would hunt to eat. As my culture did not provide me rituals for hunting, I would create my own ceremony to thank the animal and honor the animal as a sacred gift. Prayers before dinner are not adequate. They typically thank God for the food rather than address the animal. As Campbel says, ancient civilizations (such as the ones that created the cave paintings) honored the animals because they had something humans needed. Eating meat just doesn’t feel right to me without some sort of ritual at the time of death.

Ritual vs. Slaughter
Ritual is what distinguished the hunt from a slaughter. For me, the best-case scenario is to hunt or fish for a small group’s protein needs, and to perform rituals to recognize the killing of another life form. Eating meat twice a week is sufficient for health and encourages respect for the natural world. In this regard, I identify with hunters who kill overpopulated deer and freeze the meat or give it as gifts. I hope these types of hunters make use of the non-edible parts of the animal. At the same time, it is cowardly to kill for enjoyment. Equally despicable are the hunters who feed deer at designated locations and times only to hunker down in a shelter with a high-powered rifle and wait until feeding time.

Responsible Meat-eating
Every American can eat less meat and support local farmers over agro-businesses. Most Americans can eat organic food and buy fowl, beef, or pork from humane farmers who make an honest living while treating animals with respect.

Do not be fooled by free-range labels at the store. Most free-range farms meet minimum requirements for that label (which are pathetically low). Call the farm and ask the farmer where he gets his chicks from, if he feeds them organic food, and how much room the animals have to roam.

Join a local CSA, buy organic food from local farms or health food stores, and start a small garden. What would happen if 150 million out of America’s 300 million people grew half of their produce, ate meat three times a week, and drank soymilk? A revolution, that’s what. People would reconnect with their food sources. We would use land more ecologically. And agro-business would have less influence in Washington. If representatives represented small farmers rather than agricultural industry, we just might expose the lie that ethanol is the savior to our energy problems.

By eating more responsibly, Americans would have healthier, happier people, and freer citizens.

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