You see, Heidi became a vegetarian because she had cancer and that really sucked. She decided that if completely, 100% abstaining from meat would prevent many types of cancer then it was the diet for her. I talk with terminally people on a daily basis and it hurts me knowing that something as simple as diet frequently contributed to their painful decline.
Anyway, after a significant amount of studying, pondering, and praying (yes, I said praying) I came to the conclusion that eating meat is not the way God intended us to live. In other words Heidi stopped eating meat for health reasons and I stopped for religious reasons. I mean, how much clearer can the Doctrine and Covenants be:
"Yeah, flesh also of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used sparingly; And it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine."
American advertising has done a fantastic job of making this seem like a non-issue but heart disease and Type II Diabetes (brought on by animal fat and overeating respectively) contributes to far more sickness, death, and misery than alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine the aspect of the Word of Wisdom that is so readily emphasized.
But perhaps more importantly God went to a lot of trouble designing and creating these creatures and mass producing and altering them into "Frankenanimals" for nothing other than consumption when there are plenty of alternatives seems wrong. At the very least I will be able to tell God that I spared his creatures when possible and I I'll be honest, I need all the bonus points I can get.
Which brings us to Hannah. She's a turkey, and a fortunate one. Notice her beak is normal, most turkeys produced in factory farms have the tips of their beaks chopped off as chicks. She was found in a box in a supermarket parking lot and was taken in by Farm Sanctuary, one of our favorite charities. We adopted her this year for Thanksgiving and her photo is still on our refrigerator.
It's ironic that Thanksgiving, a holiday about gratitude and giving is surrounded by so much slaughter. Between 40 and 45 million turkeys have their lives abruptly ended so we can stuff our faces on the fourth Thursday of November. So think twice about what your eating; I mean do you really need to have meet 3-4 times a day?
Below is a film of a special event Farm Sanctuary holds every Thanksgiving for their turkeys. Take a gander, it is only two minutes long and who doesn't like seeing happy, healthy animals?
1 comment:
Once again, you've made me think seriously about this issue.
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