what is ethical?

September 16, 2005

When I graduated college I rented a room in a house of a guy who was a

hunter and fisher. His freezer was full of elk and salmon. BUT, that

is all the meat that he ate. He never bought meat at the store. Me,

personally, I can accept that. He hunted/fished only what he needed

for the year.

Some communities (not necessarily in the US)do raise animals for

slaughter; but they do it on such a small scale and many of them give

honor to the animals and the gods that provided them with the food.

There is a great scene from Cold Mountain, where Jude Law's character

is starved and sickly. He comes across a gypsy woman who takes him in.

As they are conversing she is stroking and loving on a goat. The next

thing you know is the goat has fallen into her lap. She sacrifices her

goat to help another human. She honors the goat and what it had given

her over the years. To me, that is honorable.

Obviously in our country, people do not honor the things they eat.

They do not consciously think about WHAT they are even eating. The

inhumane treatment of " food " animals is disgusting.

I asked James that if he were one of the refugees in New Orleans and

had not eaten in three plus days, would he eat anything that was given

to him by the Red Cross, even if it was meat. We both agreed that in

that situation we would.

Amy, you're right. It is a complicated subject. Because in our " rich "

society, it is easy for us to choose how we want to eat. But do all

societies have that luxury (especially the poor and homeless in our

own country)? No. And I feel as you, it is not my place to judge them

for that.

Just a few thoughts,

Denise

, " Amy " <sandpiperhiker>

wrote:

> I think it's a really complicated subject for most. Onegood thing is

> that often they won't kill more than they need to eat, and if they do

> (say the deer is huge), I've often seen posters at state parks talking

> about a donation program where they can donate some of the processed

> meat to food kitchens. I dunno if that still goes on... but if you

> have nothing, a pack of donated meat will keep you alive til you're

> able to make different choices.

>

> Killing the animals is certainly not ideal, but who am I to judge

> someone who feeds his family on his or her own hard work?

September 16, 2005

this could not have been said better, thanks Denise.

Blessings,