thoughts

I wonder if I would be able to solve the world’s problems, given enough time in the shower. What is it about taking a warm shower that allows me to think so clearly and well? (Oh, and yes, I have decided to stop writing in all lowercase. I read an e-mail etiquette tip once that said all-lowercase is difficult to read. I think I’ve decided that that’s true.)

I have decided that I am not opposed to what Aegean Bronze Age calls ‘secondary animal products’ such as eggs and dairy products, provided the animals are well cared for, their milk or eggs are not taken from them when/if they need them, and they are not slaughtered afterward for food. What does this mean for my daily life? Nothing, except if I’m going to someone’s house where they keep a pet chicken, and they want to give me some eggs. 🙂 But since I don’t know of any commercial companies that don’t sell their animals after their deaths to meat companies, this won’t be adding anything to my grocery list. (By the way, that’s one of the reasons I am trying to stop eating eggs and dairy. The animals are eaten afterward anyway. Also, I no longer really like milk… I think once you get used to not having it, once you try it again it has a weird taste. Butter, cheese and cream are a different story.)

One thing that made me think about this was something I learned from my Ancient Greece professor. First, though, I have to explain what vegans envision for the perfect future (according to one book I read). Everyone would become vegan, but something would obviously have to be done about all the domesticated cows and pigs and chickens, etc, that we raise for food. The author of my vegan book says that they would be cared for until they reach the end of their natural life span, then that would be it. No more cows and pigs and chickens. I have a problem with that, because I think the extinction of a species would be more sad than allowing them to live as sort of pet animals. The other thing is, my professor told us that technically there really are no more wild horses. All horses that exist in the world today are domesticated, or have been domesticated at some point in their lives. That’s a sad thought, isn’t it? But what if the same is true for cows etc? (Are there wild cows? Weird thought.) So what if the vegan vision means a world without horses, cows, pigs, chickens, etc., possibly even cats and dogs, then I don’t want that kind of world. So basically… I still think I would like to be vegan, I just have different ideas about what I think we should do with domesticated animals after everyone stops eating them. But this makes no difference in my daily life. 🙂

[This post was imported on 4/10/14 from my old blog at satsumabug.livejournal.com.]