Vasudev> While the article was very moving and disturbing, I would
Vasudev> like to comment that, interestingly, this was an argument put
Vasudev> forward recently by an earnest young self-appointed
Vasudev> missionary hell bent on converting me. During the course of
Vasudev> a discussion, he explained to me that animals did not have
Vasudev> souls and that was why it was perfectly acceptable to kill
Vasudev> them. (He also wanted me to quit this vegetarian nonsense).
Vasudev> Perhaps in time, our sense of compassion will extend out to
Vasudev> those who are weak and defenseless and with whom we cannot
Vasudev> communicate.
Vasudev> Comments?
I think this is still related to Native issues. I just wanted to point
out that the idea that animals do not have souls does not lead in any
way to the conclusion that we should hurt them wantonly. They
certainly feel pain, and what is worse they have no way of voicing
their grievances, asking their tormentor to stop, or taking them to
court.
Native people understand this, and they understand the responsibility
we humans have for caring for the animals. Since animals were also
necessary for survival (from food to tools to clothing), they had to
kill them, nevertheless I think we find a big difference in the way
they were killed and the respect accorded to them. In Western
society, since we are so far removed from the animal itself (only
receiving its products) we have lost touch with these notions, and the
waste that occurs is horrendous.
Having said this, I would venture that we are at a unique time in
history when it is economically, technologically, and with regards to
health a viable choice to move towards vegetarianism. It supposedly
costs something like 10 times more for grow a certain amount of beef
as it does to grow the equivalent amount of nutrients in grains,
fruits, and vegetables.
To sum up, to the extent that people still kill animals, I think they
should try to emulate the example Native people provide for us; I
think we are moving away from meat consumption in general as a
society, however.
Mark
-- Mark Towfiq towfiq@FTP.COM Work: +1 617 246 0900 Home: +1 617 488 2818 FTP Software, Wakefield, MA 51 Harvard Avenue, West Medford, MA 02155"The Earth is but One Country, and Mankind its Citizens" -- Baha'u'llah