Gratitude for the Gift of Life: Meat as a Sacrament, not Sacrilege - Essay Example

Gratitude for the Gift of Life: Meat as a Sacrament, Not Sacrilege While many may face an ethical dilemma eating meat, at the heart of the matter isbiology, spirituality, and generosity, animals willingly share their flesh so that all may live. From a physiological standpoint humans are omnivores. We eat animals and we eat plants. Each individual has the choice to eat the foodstuff that suits her best, but that does not change the nature of the individual as an omnivore. I am a meat eater and so are you! In contrast, a creature such as a duck is a true herbivore. It does not possess teeth and is thereby physically incapable of obtaining or eating meat. A unique aspect of the kingdom Animalia is that we cannot produce our own food and we all must eat other organisms in order to survive. Animals have an instinctive knowing about this phenomenon. We share an intimate relationship with each other as the eaters and the eaten. Animals are intelligent creatures. They are aware of their particular part in the human food chain. Animals make the ultimate gift of their flesh to us, just as all creatures must eventually give away their earthly vessel to someone else. Even humans must succumb to death and give their flesh to the earth itself to nourish the soil and feed the plants. Humans feed the parasites and micro-organisms which consume them posthumously. We must change our perspective on animals. They are not dumb and they are certainly not helpless victims. Animals and humans have engaged in a symbiotic relationship for eons. That relationship is not for anyone to judge, though it is worth investigating. About 80 years ago, a dentist by the name of Weston Price visited pre-westernized indigenous cultures around the globe to study their diets. Wherever he visited, he found that people were eating animals as food in the same manner as their ancestors before them had done for many generations. Together the humans and animals formed a sustainable chain of life. Dr. Price found that there was a direct correlation between meat eating and physical health. The more meat that was eaten by any particular society the healthier the population. One group in particular, the Masai warriors of the Kalahari Desert in Africa live on a diet consisting almost exclusively of fresh cow's blood, milk, and beef. A symbiotic relationship exists between the cows and the Masai, otherwise known as the "lion people". Cows are treated as if they were part of the family. Masai warriors constantly protect the herd of cows from all predators, 24 hours per day and 365 days per year. In return the cows provide food for the Masai people. Both species have lived peacefully together for countless generations. Cows are an esteemed part of Masai society. The generous Masai gifted the United States with several head of cattle after they found out about the World Trade Center disaster. It is interesting to note that there is a neighboring tribe to the Masai who practice something close to vegetarianism. These nearby villagers eat a diet high in plant protein. The Masai warriors have dominated these people for a very long time since they cannot match the physical prowess of the meat-eaters. Closer to home, the American Indians possessed a deep spiritual relationship with the buffalo. The "White Buffalo Calf Woman" is a special being from the buffalo nation who is the recipient of much thanks and honor in Native American society. She has granted many gifts to the human species besides physical nourishment. Yet that should not diminish the flesh offering from this species. Only by hunting and eating buffalo were the Indians able to survive during the pre-industrial age in North America. The buffalo benefitted from this as well. Human involvement kept the buffalo from over-population which would have thrown the entire ecosystem out of balance. The land has a carrying capacity for any particular species and too many buffalo would cause stress on the environment. The ecosystem is like a finely tuned homeostatic mechanism that must stay in balance if it is to continue. And we are further away from balance at this current time in history than ever before. We would do well to adopt the ways of the American Indians of the past. For thousands of years humans and buffalo lived together harmoniously, until the white men came and desecrated both man and beast by senselessly destroying them. Deep down I think we feel guilty about the actions of our predecessors, but we do not know what to do in order to correct these injustices from long ago. Perhaps vegetarianism is a way in which we attempt to atone for the sins of the past. In many respects, our treatment of the animal kingdom has not changed. The way we treat our food animals gives many people second thoughts about eating them. This is definitely a concern. By mechanizing the processes of food production we have separated ourselves, and the animals that become our food, from the source of all nutrition the planet Earth. Perhaps the most legitimate argument for not eating meat is the fact that the animals are raised in such as oppressive environment. It is an injustice to house cows, pigs and chickens indoors away from the sun and fresh air. The overcrowded conditions cause innumerable stresses for the animals. They become sick very easily and must be fed all sorts of drugs in order to grow to an adequate size before slaughter. Taking cows away from their primary food source, grass, is an utter tragedy. As Pollan so poignantly illustrates in The Omnivore's Dilemma, feeding cows corn instead of their preferred diet changes the health of the animal and also decreases the wholesomeness of the meat taken from the animal to feed humans. Not to mention the untold suffering to animal, land, and ultimately man. Fortunately, the ways in which we have been raising cows has already started changing over the past few years. Small farms have begun a return to the old-time ways of animal husbandry. Now it is possible to go to a local farmer's market and purchase meat from "free-range" cows that have been eating grass on the prairie for their whole lives. The new demand for organically raised, hormone-free, and antibiotics-free food has generated a cleaner food supply. As people wake up even more to the hidden horrors of factory farming these methods will surely become something that will only be found in the pages of our history books. All beings in the world are equal and all life is a precious miracle. I find it strange how some people can draw a line between the different species, judging some to be superior to others. How can anyone say that a cow is any more important or more alive than a food plant such as corn Both organisms have eukaryotic cells and both reproduce through sexual union. Both have a life and a death. Both spread progeny and contain genetic material. Even a potato has more chromosomes than a human! Members of the plant kingdom are spectacular beings that have been revered and even worshipped throughout history. They have a spirit. They have the unique property of absorbing carbon dioxide, which is a human waste product, and releasing oxygen that keeps humans breathing. Plants use sunlight to make their own food. Some would argue that plants have feelings and are capable of communication. Plants give their lives to humans so that our species can live. They tolerate all sorts of selfish abuse from us including genetic manipulation and cultivation. Why is it right for humans to kill the plants for food but wrong to kill animals for food The smug phrase "I do not eat anything with a face" is merely self-righteous propaganda from people who believe that animals are is some way better than plants. Vegans and vegetarians who profess an ethical or spiritual motivation for their eating habits must contend with the fact that their hands are stained green with chlorophyll. They must kill to live the same as everyone else. Indeed, if there is any reason that we should feel badly about eating meat it is most certainly from the guilt we feel for abusing the animals through our factory farming processes. Certainly no one could argue against meat from a culinary perspective. Everyone knows that meat is delicious! More than one vegetarian has drooled at the site of a juicy T-bone sizzling on the grill. In America the meat and potatoes diet is the only one that has not turned into a fad. I can sympathize with Wallace when he tells us about the discomfort he experiences when considering the feelings of the lobster on which he is dining, "the whole animal-cruelty-and-eating issue is not just complex, it is also uncomfortable" and "my own main way of dealing with this conflict has been to avoid thinking about the whole unpleasant thing". (246) It creates a predicament deep within us when our animal appetites clash with our moral ideologies. But then again the biggest problem with people is that they do not like to think about their actions. It is unpleasant to consider the way we are living in the world today and the impact we are having on all the species with whom we share the planet. Maybe it is time for us to reconsider our modern convenient way of life. This does not mean that we all need to turn to vegetarian ism as a refuge from our dietary dilemmas, but it does mean that it would be a good idea for us to re-think our strategies for feeding ourselves as a society. In the book The Reluctant Shaman by Kay Whitaker, we are treated to a description of how early hunters engaged their quarry. A team of four Native Americans has just hunted a deer and they begin the ceremony of dressing the fallen beast. "While the deer was still alive it made no attempt to escape its fate. In fact, it almost seemed as though it gave into it willingly and graciously. The leader looked into its eyes as one would look into the eyes of an old friend. There was an understanding between them. And although I did not know his language, he appeared to thank the deer for giving itself to his people." (Whitaker, 117) This passage suggests a different relationship between humans and other animals than we have previously acknowledged in western society. In modern day America we were never taught the proper way to accept the life of an animal. It seems that we have lost the knowledge of our connections to the rest of the inhabitants of the world. We have taken for granted everything about the land we live on. In place of respect for the natural world and all of the other creatures around us, we hold the beliefs of moral superiority. God himself has given man dominion over the Earth. So instead of reverence for the animals that become our food, we treat them in a manner that does not befit their sacrifice. If we are going to eat meat without the moral quandary that plagues us today, then we are going to have to change the way we do things. As Scruton tells us, "conscientious carnivores show their depraved contemporaries that there is a right and a wrong way to eat. Duty requires us, therefore, to eat our friends." (265) Works Cited "Kenyan Masai donate cows to US." Editorial. BBC News World Edition. 3 June 2002. Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma. New York: Penguin, 2006. Scruton, Roger. "A Carnivore's Credo" in The Best American Essays 2007, ed. David Foster Wallace. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. Wallace, David Foster. Consider the Lobster: And Other Essays. Boston: Back Bay Books, 2007. Weston A. Price, DDS (2000). westonaprice.org. Referenced 6 May 2009 < http://www.westonaprice.org/nutritiongreats/price.html> Whitaker, Kay. The Reluctant Shaman. New York: Harper, 1991. Read More