Lambs to the slaughter

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A popular victim of the ubiquitous Australian BBQ is the sheep (usually it’s a lamb, executed young for its tender flesh). Nobody thinks twice about this back-to-Nature fire ritual, of roasting a dead lamb on an open flame. Everybody gets excited by the smell of it cooking, and eating it, in spite of the fact that they wouldn’t be capable of taking a knife to that baby lamb’s throat to end its life. That idea would be disgusting.
The example of a lamb being executed, then barbequed, for the pleasure of eating it might not sit well in people’s conscience - it pits conscience against pleasure, denial against temptation. And yet ‘out of sight, out of mind’, the eating and indulging have merged into habit. The crime of the act is forgotten and the experience enjoyed.
The lamb is the symbol of innocence, it’s cute, cuddly and playful. The human symbolises the very opposite. Humans are not only careless and vicious but cowardly too since they employ someone else to take this young animal and slit its throat, so that it can be butchered and made ready for barbequing. Could there be an uglier outcome for this sweet creature’s life than being taken from its mother to the slaughterer, to the butcher and then to the roasting spit?
Humans aren’t used to being denied what they want - if it’s available the human will be tempted, and in this case, giving into temptation showing an incredible lack of self-discipline. There can surely be no excuse for someone who knows what this animal has gone through (on its journey from its home to its extermination) because they’ve connived at a terrible act of cruelty.
But look at it now from the consumer’s point of view - when it comes to self gratification, this favourite meat isn’t easy to give up. It’s like smoking or drinking or any other uncontrolled habit, indulging it is all we’ve ever known. There’s nothing self improving about eating lambs, quite the opposite.
Probably everyone looks for some sort of self-improvement in life ... but not by applying ethics to food. Why waste time on being disciplined in not-eating-animals if it doesn’t make us richer or better thought of? If social success is our main aim, then saving lambs from the slaughter isn’t relevant.
However, to feel successful I must at least have attitudes that are convincing to myself. I might start with personal self-development on ‘my road to enlightenment’ or my ‘quest for happiness’, but surely there’s a further dimension to it – it isn’t just about my journey through life but my place in the lives of others. And that includes my place in the world I live in, otherwise it all becomes just a little too self indulgent.
Perhaps that’s what veganism tries to point out. To be fully rounded, to see beyond self-improvement, to see beyond the enlightened ‘do-gooder’ I need to have a solid dimension of compassion in me. If I can empathise with another person’s situation I can then go beyond self discipline and start ‘thinking about others before thinking about myself’.
Although this might sounds idealistic, most of us do just that, and sometimes often. That’s far from self indulging and giving in to temptation, and of course to practise this vegans are suggesting our empathy ought to include animals, if only because there is so great a need today for us to empathise with them. Which brings us to the terrified lamb at the point where its throat is about to be cut ... which brings us back to vegan principles.
When I decide to be vegan I have to see it not as a restriction but as a liberation, not an abstention but a taking up of something better ... being better for more than just my interests. Food-wise it means healthier food, ethics-wise it means connecting with my compassionate self.
Surely, if I want to improve myself it comes down to simply doing the right thing, and knowing that in doing it I’ll generate enough energy to keep it up. The great advantage of being vegan is that, with good nutrition and clear conscience, I know I can start to make resolutions which will be kept, and I’ll feel all the better for that.