In other news, my final draft of the paper is here:
After visiting Japan, the land of the rising sun, and lacking access to red meats for 12 days, I thought I would challenge myself to completely forgo the consumption of red meats (mammalian flesh). In Japan, there was a scarcity of chicken, and a very plentiful supply of fish and plants. It amazed me how good one could feel eating a bowl of rice, a slab of seaweed and some miso soup with fish flavoring. It was then that I decided, I could live a pescetarian life. After much discussion in my classes at MCLA, I also determined that there are many other reasons to forgo the consumption of animal flesh in favor of plants. It is then that I decided, I should strive for vegetarianism. Following my internal moral compass of “don’t cause harm to anything if you can avoid it,” I am trying to adopt that into my diet, and I am also trying to implement the thought of the animal I am about to consume’s past life, though it is difficult for me to do so for reasons unknown to me that I will try to define.
Through much discussion, we as a class have decided that animals of all species deserve to be treated with some form of respect, and thus we should err on the side of caution when considering harming such creatures. I personally do my best to respect every form of life, from a spider in the corner of my closet, to a bird flying gracefully above my head before releasing its waste upon my car, and even the coyotes that wander the woods and occasionally enter my back yard. However when it comes to eating “corpse” I find myself all too willing to grab the phone and call up China Buffet to order some General Tso’s Chicken. I believe this action stems from a sense of habit.
Humans can become habituated, as any animal can, into doing amazing things without thinking. The idea of “autopiolet” is a strong example where a human can talk to their lover while driving in the rain on a windy road, and navigate just fine, both conversationally and physically. The daily grind of a human can be exhausting physically and mentally, even though little conscious thought was put into the day. Just as we become used to a day full of stress because “that is how it has been and will be”, we too can become used to a specific taste. Alcoholism is an example where someone willingly ingests a toxin just so they can consume it the next time with less thought about the taste and physiological strain on their body, and thus alcohol tolerance is gained.
How tolerance relates to me is my consumption of chicken. Entering Aramark’s cafeteria, I go to the salad bar and look for beans, whether I find them or not, I will still go to the grill and search for a chicken patty to sate my appetite, I then consume the chicken patty because, “it tastes how it always has and I always have eaten them, they fill me up, so why stop?” This is problematic because I become so entranced in consuming the flesh of a poor chicken that I fail to allow my self-conscious the time to think about what I am doing and regain control over my body to prevent said action. Since I never have the thought, I never feel guilt until someone brings it up directly later on and I recall scarfing down one or two patties.
I understand that animals feel pain, I also believe that animals are fully conscious of their surroundings. By fully conscious, I mean they are fully able to interoperate signals such as pain, light, and pressure, and relate it to their lives. Whether they can relate it to other animals like us humans and arguably cetaceans and primates can do, I doubt, but that is besides the point. The point is that animals can feel pain, and that it is not right to harm a being that can feel pain. Relating that to the human self, we have come up with the idea of the “golden rule” which dictates that one should do unto others that which he(she) wishes to be dealt to unto himself(herself). I try to live my life by this principal, leading people by example, sacrificing my time to assist others in hopes they they will pay it foreword onto someone else and better the world that way. It is that line of thinking that has me worried about myself and my consumption of animals.
I feel remorse when I personally harm a living being, even stepping on an ant, I will say a little prayer in my head wishing that I hadn’t done that and that the ant can forgive me for quashing its life candle. I can even feel remorse towards objects, not necessarily their owner, but if I drop something, I will apologize to the object, for reasons I question to this day.
Indirect harm is another thing. I will feel remorse if I witness another being being harmed, such as a rabid beaver that was chasing kids getting shot in the skull by a .22. It didn’t try to terrorize and harm those children, it was just possessed and influenced by the rabies. which makes me a little relieved that, at least the beaver won’t have to live its life suffering from the disease. If I am unable to see said harmed animal however, I find myself thinking less and less of the suffering the animal must be going through. I still understand that suffering occurs in slaughter houses, but without actually coming into contact with an animal prior to its evisceration, or witnessing the defiling of it’s body, I do not feel guilt. It is an odd concept that I have reflected deeply on after eating 3 chicken patties in a row, but not during the consumption of said flesh.
Perhaps it is the proof of harm I hunger for more then the animal’s flesh itself? I have heard of dolphins being captured and killed by fishing nets mistakenly, however when I eat fish I feel absolutely no guilt until I hear a news story concerning dolphins, then I think on how to better the practice of fishing, and think about fish farms, but then I remember another news story about how horrible fish farms are and get frustrated as there seems to be no real “moral” answer. Concerning fish, I could honestly, regardless of my morals, never forgo the succulent taste of sushi. I could give up all other forms of meat but I do not think, even if I owned a fish and it was taken from me and cut up into sushi, I would still consume it.
I would probably be hesitant as I think back to the good times of the enjoyment it has provided me voyeuristically watching it and teaching it how to eat food out of my hands, but if I am not slaughtering the fish, and if I knew it was slaughtered humanely, I would consume it. If it wasn’t slaughtered humanely, I would think on how it was brutalized, but its death would be entirely in vain if it was just cut up and thrown away due to my morals saying “don’t eat it” and I feel it would be a service to it to end its life within my gut rather then degrading slowly in the ground because at least something would benefit from its death.
I believe vegetarianism and, to a “greater” degree, veganism, is a fantastic ideal that can be and should be strived for by many, but I can never see myself forgoing at least seafood in a diet. I have been trying to limit my chicken consumption, and increase my fish and bean consumption as a form of protein while keeping greens the majority of my meals, but it is hard with so little time to eat in a day. I feel vegetarianism is morally justified, yet not morally obligated in our society as there will always be meat as long as corporations posses the funds and market shares. For me personally, I will strive for pescetarian while keeping an ideal that perhaps one day, with an extreme amount of effort, I could be a vegetarian, and that is why I believe vegetarianism is morally justified and should be a goal for myself and other empathetic individuals.
