Yesterday
on Care 2 -- I read Abigail Geer's post "If You Knew How Your
Meat was
Killed, Would You Still Eat It?" It was provocative and interesting. It
also drew
almost 300
comments.
I read a lot of them and many were very good in their defense of a vegan
diet. But out of all of them -- I liked the one Samantha sent in quoting David
Coats from Old McDonald's Factory Farm.
For me it is brilliant in its simplicity, truth, and clarity. I believe it
will stand
on its own merits in this short post. If you are in a straddling position
about
whether to make a diet lifestyle change, I think Coats' reflections on
veganism will certainly enlighten and help. Here it is:
"Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife--birds, kangaroos, deer,
all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice, foxes and dingoes--by the
million in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills
domestic animals by the billion and eats them. This in turn kills man by the
millions, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative--and fatal--health
conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills
millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of
other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they
could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are
dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so
violently, and once a year, sends out cards praying for Peace on Earth."
While I could relate many more good comments, I rather just let the reader
reread Coat's "classic." Who could say better and more succinctly than he the
many solid reasons why adopting a vegan lifestyle makes a lot of sense? In that
ONE paragraph I gleaned SIX reasons why veganism should be sought. They
are: WILDLIFE DESTRUCTION, FARM-ANIMAL FACTORIES, HEALTH PROBLEMS,
RESEARCH CRUELTY, WORLD HUNGER, AND HYPOCRISY.
And guess what--I thought of a SEVENTH reason. Have you also? Think on
it, and then scroll down to mine. I think many of you will not latch on to it on
your own. I hope I am wrong.
While reading other people's comments, I had to smile recalling one woman's defense of eating meat was that we need B-12 which can only be gotten from
a meat diet. I replied to her--it's too bad that when God made Adam and Eve vegetarian--He didn't know this.
Then a man questioning my reference to the Old Testament said that the
world was 200 million years old and our first ancestors were meat eaters. Wow-- what a stat! When I looked up how old the earth was--quite of few of the sites
said that the earth was billions of years old. Whether these scientific "facts"
are true or not -- whether our first ancestors ate meat or not, for me at least--I
think that I will stick with the Old Testament.
And of course, I'll stick with Coats' rationale. It seems to me very
current, relevant, and true. And now to my SEVENTH REASON for becoming vegan.- -THE
ENVIRONMENT. Did you also get it?
Re this reason--ask the people living near Toledo who this past year found
their portion of Lake Erie polluted with algae bloom -- a result of the factory-farm seepage of animal waste from nearby factory farms.
Can you imagine what it must be like to suddenly not have a clean water
source? I hope the state of Ohio will address this problem so that the people
depending on a clean Lake Erie will never live through this nightmare again.
Hopefully, these 7 reasons will help people searching for a better and more
healthful lifestyle will come to realize that veganism is a benevolent lifestyle--one
that most of us will never find a reason to abandon.
And to the lady who said that we need B-12 from meat--when I recently
sprained my foot and had occasion to see a doctor (a rarity), I asked for a B-12 shot--
thinking I might need it. Wrong -- a required blood test not only revealed that I didn't
need a B-12 shot but I found that my blood work was good for this vegan of 31 years.
That's a testimonial I think anyone would be happy with, and it is all due to the
compassionate lifestyle I adopted in 1983 -- thanks to the inspiration of my beautiful dog
Peaches.