Vegetarians kill too... Every time they eat.
They just have a much better support group.
I think that's part of why we have such trouble with death, life and food. We completely lie about the most basic truth.
So very true!
I agree! They don't seem to look upon vegetables and plants as being alive for some reason. They even bleed!
I agree! I've been a nurse for 20 years, so being around death is part of my job. The last several years of my career was spent in hospice, where even many seasoned nurses hate to work because they still have hang ups about death. People seem to think that, if they don't think about death or go near it, it won't happen to them, so their fear of their own death seems to drive their thinking about how they deal with their loved one's medical care, even their pet's medical care. They try to make both live way past the time they could have or should have pass on, through artificial means and life support, instead of allowing them to die naturally when they are in such pain and distress.
Over the years I've seen this type of thinking grow and grow. It always saddens me that so many people fear death, won't think of death and don't prepare for death. They know it's going to happen, no matter what, but they somehow think if they don't think about it, they will escape it. It's a mystery to me...death is nothing to be feared and is a natural part of our lives, just like our birth.
Thank you for putting this so honestly and eloquently. I can honestly say from personal experience that being close to death (those who are dieing, not a near death experience) should not harden your heart, or make taking an animal's life a cold process with no emotion. Instead it should allow you to appreciate life more.
Since my son was born (nearly 8 years ago) I have lost my two remaining grandparents, multiple friends and more distantly related family, and two younger siblings (I was the oldest of 4, and am 31). Some would think my son should have a heart of stone after being to so many funerals, and having been to more viewings than many adults. Yet he is the kindest child I have ever met, he has a heart of gold and is often thinking of others.
He understands death is part of life better than almost anyone I know, and has an appreciation of life I do not see in most of my own generation, let alone his. He has helped with processing, and understands it is part of the natural cycle. He is respectful of the process and that a life ends so that ours may continue.
I can't tell you all the names I've been called (even by fellow "meat eaters") because I choose to process birds we raise and allow Gavin to participate if he chooses to. For a fairly rural area like where we live the lack of connection with food sources was shocking to me. Not nearly as shocking, or perhaps disheartening is a better term, as the willing and almost forced disconnect of death being a natural process, but it was still surprising to me.
Sorry for the rambling, and if I missed the finer points of the discussion (trying to keep 3 days of posts straight in my head) but my point is as I said before. Every death, whether human or animal, should bring a greater appreciation of life, and an understanding that it is a part of the natural cycle. If there is no emotion or respect there is something wrong. And that is coming from a woman who has been told (multiple times by different people) "You'd give the Ice Queen a run for her money, you're so hard hearted and frigid," or something similar that would involve language to make a "sailor blush." While, as I said in a prior post, I have the "luxury" of an emotional detachment from food animals, it does not mean I feel nothing or do not respect that animals gift.
