Robert·ology

Day 27 of Vegetarian Awareness Month and today let’s talk about what’s happening next month at this time.

In the US, Thanksgiving will be coming at the end of November (Canadian Thanksgiving was two weeks ago). It’s usually celebrated with a large meal, family, and friends. Unfortunately, this meal is often centered around an unnaturally large bird - a turkey that’s been genetically manipulated by some apparent relatives of Dr. Frankenstein to be extremely large in the breast. In fact, they end up with such an abnormal physique, they have problems just standing. Even mating becomes impossible because of their distorted figure.

The reason for this manipulation? Profits, of course. That’s what business is about and there’s nothing wrong there. The problem comes when the business’ commodity is a living creature. In that situation, increasing profits usually means altering the living conditions of the animals in order to decrease costs, and altering the “output” (meat, eggs, milk, etc.) to up the income. How can that be done without negatively affecting the lives of these fellow animals? It can not.

Should we gain from the exploitation of others?

I suppose that’s the question at the heart of vegetarianism. Search your feelings, your upbringing, your morals and find your answer. Now, live your life accordingly.

There are a number of organizations whose mission is to help non-human animals. Many of them are able to care for and rehabilitate animals rescued from farms and slaughterhouses. One such organization, Farm Sanctuary, has been running the Adopt a Turkey Project since 1986.

Exploitation will continue to exist in many forms but you don’t have to be a participant. In fact, you can help on the other end of it. A small donation to the Adopt a Turkey Project will help supply food, shelter, and other needed items for these wonderful creatures.

This is a great gift for the vegetarian in your life. Show that you understand even if it’s not your current choice. Show that you care about these animals at some level. You won’t believe the reaction you’ll get.

And look for animal sanctuaries in your area. They need help too - perhaps even more so.

Celebrate life this year at Thanksgiving. Give others something to be thankful for.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 27th, 2008 at 5:36 pm and is filed under Veg. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.