I have reached a point in life where I question everything, obviously a very late starter. The question wobbling around in my head right now is the relationship between animals and humans. I don't think its a fair or just relationship.
I firmly believe that we are meant to eat meat and animal products in order to maintain a healthy diet. I however believe we eat far too much of it - for our own health, or the health of the planet. We also severely abuse animals in order to utilise them, largely due to economics, which is the only value we seem to measure anything with.
We breed mutants, we constantly play with genetics, in order to make these critters more "productive". We remove their sexual organs to make them grow faster, we kill them when they become "unproductive". We confine them to tiny spaces their entire lives, we force feed them, we feed them hormones, we force them to breed as often as possible in the lifespans they have. We mutilate them - cut off battert chickens upper bill, burn off bovines horns. We transport in cruel uncomfortable, unhygeinic conditions.
But I like and will continue to eat meat. My only change is that I try where possible to eat "free range". Chickens and eggs are the best, as we don't remove their sexual organs or mutilate them in any way. If I had a choice I'd only eat venison - I have no gripes about shooting a bokkie, that bokkie had a decent life running around the bushes, fornicating ets. It lived the life all living creatures should have the right to. I won't catch and release my trout, I'll kill them and eat them. I don't have the right to put the trout through all the misery of a hook in its mouth, just to release it so someone else can later put it through the same trauma.
My most difficult thing to do away with will be pets. I absolutely love my dogs, but do I have a right to them? Who gave me the right to castrate and spay them, take away their fundamental reason for life - to procreate. Just so that I can have a loyal and loving companion. What other choice have I given the little okes, I've stolen a huge part of their lives for my own selfish needs. I'm not going to put them down or anything, but I don't think I'll be replacing them when they die - even wit the security situation in our country right now. This is going to be a difficult sacrifice to make, I can feel the pain in my heart as a write.
Last question, if there really is a God, why does He allow us to abuse so many of the creatures he created? He says we can utilise them, but nowhere in the bible have I seen the section where He says we have the right to abuse them.
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