I am a really gullible person. I don’t think I can ever become a judge or lawyer because I tend to believe what anyone says. I want to understand the emotions behind every action and try to justify everything. This was really frustrating sometimes and I used to think of myself as if I am the lesser one than others because of this. But I read somewhere that taking long time to make a decision does not make one cowardly or bad. It may be just that he/she is trying to judge more deeply and sincerely based on his/her beliefs. That was comforting atleast, if not true.
Well as I have grown up to a certain extent now, I have matured slightly and have given up on this understanding thing. No it doesn’t mean that I don’t try to find everyone’s reasons but I know now that it can be mentally exhausting. Sometimes people are as they are and there is no particular reason behind their actions.
But now I try to understand my thoughts more clearly and now too I cannot come to a decision easily. I am fairly quick in making decisions like what to eat, career choices and all that. I don’t think too much about them and let my heart take the decisions. But when it comes to making ethical decisions like religion, vegetarianism or animal welfare, I feel like I am struck between two sides of the story.
Earlier when I was in my school, I had certain preconceptions and was much clearer about these things. Like religions are good, we do everything like eating meat to survive and that’s how we are built. One day I came home and even discussed this with my mum. I told her that plants are living too and there are bacteria in curd etc., the classic excuses for non vegetarian people. I think I was too young then and was fascinated by the idea of trying new foods. But now that I think about it, I am thankful that my family has been vegetarian from start.
What my mum told me that day got stuck in my head and I was in the same dilemma again. She said that yeah plants have lives too and it may be possible that they are feeling pain but they are the least we can eat to survive. Even scientists say that plants do not have emotions comparable to animals. Animals feel that sense of togetherness that we feel with our friends and I would never let someone treat my friends or family the same way as those animals. The mere idea is horrifying.
So I thought that I had come to a conclusion and now I can rest. But then again how can a person like me have her mind at rest. Again some things happen and again I am standing at the fork of the two roads. For example many of my friends are non vegetarians and they are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Ethically so correct that I had to question myself again. Then whenever you go to twitter you are always bound to see two sides of the story. People are claiming that we are omnivores and vegetarianism may lead to ecological imbalance and much more.
But as I had said that I have matured slightly now and I think it is us humans who are causing ecological imbalance by farming animals like plants. Of course agriculture also leads to deforestation and pollution but it is much lesser than animal husbandry. So, at last I came to conclusion that we humans were born with a really wicked fate. We are destined to sin in order to survive and we have to live on other species’ pain. But if I have a choice between two sins, I will always choose the less painful one. And hence here I am, a proud vegetarian and an aspiring vegan. My thoughts may stirr again and I may have to think about it again ,then I may understand my non vegetarian friends’ choices, but I will never give up on vegetarianism. Because I wish to cause as minimum damage as possible to this earth.
Librocubicularist soul 