Vegetarianism offers peace to human race
Each year, billions of animals are slaughtered, experimented on and denied their freedom and everything else that is natural and important to them. Though science and common sense show that animals have the ability to think and to feel pain, love, joy, terror and other emotions, corporations and other entities continue to tyrannize animals for both profit and pleasure. All injustices are wrong ““ regardless of the victims’ race, gender, species or other attributes.
If we want to live in a more compassionate world, then our actions must reflect our desire for compassion. Going vegetarian sends a powerful message to the largest industries that are complicit in the oppression of animals: We reject the notion that “might makes right” and that a mere palate preference is justification for murder. This powerful choice spares animals from torture and abuse that would be illegal if it were inflicted on dogs or cats ““ let alone on human beings.
Most people would never dream of cramming as many as 11 hens into a cage the size of a file drawer, ripping a screaming baby piglet’s testicles out or cutting the throat of a cow as she stares back in despair. How, then, as caring individuals, can we justify paying others to carry out these atrocities on our behalf?
The decision to stop eating animals makes a strong statement to the world: Justice and compassion should be extended not only to those beings who are the most similar to us but also to all the other sentient beings. When it comes to suffering, human and nonhuman animals are alike. As the Nobel Peace Prize recipient Albert Schweitzer reminds us, “Until man extends his circle of compassion to include all living beings, he will not find peace.”
Mallory Ditchey
Third-year, Near Eastern languages and cultures