28.
Plants are not motile or
considered sentient and if humans can live solely from plants, there’s no
longer any need to kill animals. That breakthrough brings about what is now
known as a vegan diet. For those who become vegan, certain opportunities and
responsibilities open up. We are now able to advocate for Animal Rights,
whereas that option is not possible for non-vegans who are still caught up in
the animal-attack business. A ‘clean slate’ allows vegans to campaign for
animal liberation, something that is impossible for non-vegans even though they
want to see the end of cages and confining pens.
If someone isn’t yet vegan but is moving that way, it
bodes well for them and for us all, animals included. But for all others,
‘non-vegans’, who are hardened into habits of daily animal consumption, they
will be convinced that they couldn’t give up meat and milk. Their reasoning may
not be based on need, but on want. The taste for flesh and animal by-products
has become a habit and has been further entrenched by the ready availability of
thousands of popular food products made with animal ingredients. The shops are
full of them and at prices we can all afford - so we can eat whatever we like
because we’ve learnt how to manipulate our environment (or so we think).
But not so fast. As we become smarter we open up to
sophistication on all levels, and that opens up questions of ethics, which
might suggest the possibility of living compassionately – living without
violating animals. Perhaps, for some, this is taking things a little too far.
However, for those of us who have gone this far and
further, we have found that it is possible to develop a sense of equality
between all sentient beings. Animals needn’t be harmed or the eating of them be
allowed to damage human health – we can avoid them for our own sakes and by
doing so atone for what others have done to them in the past.
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