Q.1: DAD, WHY DON’T WE EAT MEAT ?
A.1: When Hindu children brought up in this country, are asked about their vegetarian diet, they don't have the answers always.
Son : Dad, why don’t we eat meat? Peter asked me this question today. I answered that it is because it is against our religion. He was satisfied with my answer, but he has got me thinking, I am sure there must be other reasons for not eating meat.
Dad : I think there are 5 good reasons for not eating meat: (1) Killing is unethical, (2) Vegetarian food is better for the health, (3) God does not allow the meat-eaters into Heaven, (4) Vegetable agriculture is less wasteful, (5) Vegetable agriculture is less harmful to the environment.
Son : What do you mean by “Killing is unethical"?
Dad : “Thou shalt not kill” should be the basic law of human conduct. Most people would agree that we have no right to take the life of another human being. But what gives us the right to take the life of an animal?
Like humans, all animals experience fear and pain. Can you think of anything that is morally worse than causing suffering to other begins?
Mahatma Gandhi says : “the basis of my vegetarianism is not physical, but moral. If anybody said that I should die if I did not take beef-tea or mutton, even under medical advice, I would prefer death...."
Son : Is there any proof that Vegetarian food is better for the health?
Dad : No, but, bad diet is linked to all the major killer diseases such as heart disease, cancer and strokes. Saturated fat in the diet leads to high blood cholesterol, the fatty substance which blocks arteries, leading to heart disease. Meat, dairy products and eggs are the principle sources of saturated fat and cholesterol. The Coronary Prevention Group, Health Education Council and doctors – all recommended that we should eat less meat and dairy products.
Bad diet causes one third of all cancers. Studies of vegetarians have shown that their diet actually protects them against some cancers, particularly against one of the commonest cancer of the colon.
“Women who are vegetarian, seem to have lower rates of endometrial and breast cancer than their meat-eating sisters."
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One of the most common questions is "Why don't you eat meat?" and the typical answer is "because my religion says not to". Most people will accept this answer, say okay and do not ask anymore questions. But there have been a couple of people who ask "why?". My answer to that question is that I do not believe in killing things that breathe. So far the responses I have gotten back are "its ok to kill them because they are here for us to eat".
ReplyDeleteI would like to know what gives a person a right to think that animals are only here for us to eat them. I used to eat meat because that is how my parents were brought up and that is how I was brought up. I never took the time to examine this decision if it was right or wrong. I have not ate meat for the past year and a half.
Eating meat is a choice that each person has to make for themself. The desicion breaker is if a person holds an animals life equally valuable to that of our lives as human beings. HOw could a person say that our lives are more valuable or important than an animal's life? Do we both have brains, feelings, hearts, etc? We do. So I am not sure how a person can justify the sacrificing of animal to fill the hunger in one's stomach.
Many people do not mind killing animals to eat meat because they are "just animals and are our food." But its funny because people pick and choose what is right to kill and eat. Its ok to kill a cow for beef or a pig for pork, but its unmoral to kill a cat, dog, bird, etc for food. Why is this? Because they are animals pets? Should that matter? They are "just animals". Why aren't these house pets being treated the same way as these farm animals are that people eat? I find this topic to be funny because people do not have a justified answer.