Saturday, June 7, 2008

Is Vegetarianism Logical?


It was June 1st 2008. It was raining heavily and Dad was enjoying the drive back home. My little bro was comfortably sleeping in the front seat and I was there at the back unable to deal with my headache. I was looking outside. Rain. I don't get to see it in Delhi a lot. All I was wishing at that moment was to get out of the car and get wet. But of course, I could not do that.
Afte a while, the rain stopped. Yeah.. so what? At that moment I saw one modified Ford Fiesta. Cool! I kept staring at it. Then my EYE caught three bulls, tied together. Why were they being left there, where is their owner. That's when I saw another bull run past our car and a man running after it with a stick. Was the bull scared of something? Why was it running away? It wasn't hard to find out the reason. Beef. Cow-Bull meat, widely eaten in Kerala. I looked back at the other bulls. Did they have the same fate?

Actually I had a wish to be a vegetarian long before this incident. But at that time is was for no reason. This time, i had a pity for those bulls. The thought of finally becoming a strict vegetarian came into my mind. I said it out to my dad. He smiled. Then he asked me why I wanted to do so. I said I don't like animals being killed just for humans. He smiled again.
"I'm proud you are taking such a decision. Do what you think you should. But I want you to argue about why should one be a veg. I'll talk against it."
I did not stand a chance against him. "There was once a scientist, who was a strict vegetarian. He hated doing the slightest harm to an animal. This was before the microscope was invented. It later was made and this particular scientist bought one for a high price. He was excited of having such a new instument. He wanted to make discoveries. And he did. Once, while studying a steel peice under the microscope, a leaf from the tree outside flew into the house through the window and somehow, landed on his pallette, on top of the stell peice. He was surprised to see the number of moving 'creatures' on the leaf. What were they? Were they cells? Can it be? Living cells? He noticed after some time that the cells started to die. He ran into his kitchen and brought a carrot piece and studied it under the microscope.More living cells. Does this really mean that plants are also living. That explains why plants grow from small plant to big trees! But then he realized something. Although he was a strict vegetarian, he was killing. HE was killing the plants to eat it.
He comes out with his discovery but adds, 'Any person who is an actual strict vegetarian, will have to starve to death.' "
What dad was saying was right. But....
"You say that it feels bad when killing an animal. All right, you kill a hen, you have cut off it's throat. But, how can you know if the top of a carrot is it's head. You cut it off. It's the same as cutting a hens throat. Man is incapable of seeing or feeling the life inside a plant. Science may prove that a plant does not have a hand or a face. But that is according to what WE see. It may not be a reality. Trees may be having eyes with which they are looking at us all the time? How can we know?"
"It is man's incapability that he can't feel a plant."
"Man was actually made a vegetarian. Man's intestined are like that of a cows. But we still eat meat, but do you eat it cooked or raw? There lies the point. Man cooks food not only to make it tasty, but also to make it digestable. Man's actual canine, is not his teeth, but his brain."
I gave up. But dad continued, "Don't change your mind just because i told you all this. Stay a vegetarian. But try to defend your point well with logical points."
And yes, It's been only a week, since I turned a vegetarian and I'm doing good. I have not touched non-veg. Once I was offered even prawns. PRAWNS! MY FAV! I did not eat it. I had to stck to vegetarianism.

I still feel, being a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian does not make a difference. But in the world, Vegetarianism has always been encouraged. So I ask you people : IS VEGETARIANISM LOGICAL? Please answer my poll and leave comments about it.

10 comments:

The Minking Than said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Minking Than said...

I am very proud of you, my dear Adi. Proud, for several reasons. You seem to have very clear thinking skills at so young an age. You seem to have good English and finally you seem to have starting identifying your convictions and ideas. I really am proud.

Turning to vegetarianism is a good exercise in controlling your desires and building your will power which is probably going to hold you good in your future. Keep blogging - you have a guaranteed visitor - me :)

S. Gopalakrishnan said...

extremely happy to see u voicing your thoughts and concerns. i am with you.
Yours is a bold and beautiful decision; bold because of the strength of conviction behind such a decision and beautiful because of the puritry of your thoughts.
all the best.

Nithin Rajan said...

Hi Adi, came from Anoop's blog.
One of those things where you can logically argue from either side and never win conclusively - ultimately it's a matter of choice I feel. Having said that, you have selected the tougher of the two choices, and I respect you for that.
Keep writing:)

Cris said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I used to tell my self the same things your Dad told you when I thought about Vegetarianism. In fact plants have it worse cause they cant even run away. Anwyay you do what you feel is right Kid :-)

Great blog! I wish I was able to write like that when I was 12 :-)

The Minking Than said...

Can you please enable anonymous commenting like I have set up on my blog.

Go to Blogger >> Dashboard >> Settings >> Comments

Set the following options

Who Can Comment? -> set to Anyone - includes Anonymous Users

Enable comment moderation? -> set to Yes

Show word verification for comments? -> set to No

Anonymous said...

hi adi,
good way of presenting your views....well if you ask me the question about the choice of being a veggie...hmmm i would say frankly that i respect anyone who has changed from a non veggie to a veggie coz i have tried to b one zillions of times but failed...it requires real mental strength to stick on to such a decision ....good job bro...keep it up

Anonymous said...

I'm a vegetarian, to me meat looks really gross and think of those poor animals that don't deserve to die, meat cant actually shorten a persons life span. because humans are born vegetarians just look at are clostest cousin the Gorilla, they don't eat meat.

Adi said...

heyyyyy man! snakeking, did not notice u were there! thanx!