The Wolves & The Deer..

As hunting season draws near, I am subjected to enduring the regular discussions of all the rednecks I share my high school with, as they all eagerly anticipate the return of their favorite activity....being all manly, sitting in a tree, shooting deer with big antlers to hang on their wall.

One of these such individuals favorite reasons to give for why they hunt, is because they need to control the deer population, otherwise the deer would starve in the winter. And this is true. But I wonder whether any of them ever actually bothered to stop and wonder why we have to control the deer population? Doesn't it seem odd that every other species has a perfect natural system of checks and balances, but the deer don't?

Well, if you think about it, it's not hard to know why. It's because we've hunted the natural predator of the deer - wolves - to near extinction. And it's still legal to hunt wolves, with a permit. Why?!

It can't be because wolves logically pose a threat to human lives - significantly more people are attacked by dogs than by wolves each year. So the only possible excuse for killing wolves, must be that they kill and/or eat farmers' livestock.

So, I realized that I had just come upon yet another problem that a global switch to veganism would solve! We would finally be able to stop killing wolves, and in turn, we would no longer have to kill deer either! The ecosystem would finally be able to return to its own natural balance!

There are just so many reasons to give up meat. So. Many. Reasons. Come on already, jump on the wagon, join the vegan party and save lives, the environment, the ecosystem, the rainforest, and your health!

Peace!

Fruit Is Amazing!

(The photo doesn't even begin to do the day justice... but it was the best I could do. By the way, sorry for the giant Expedition and basketball. Hah.)

I just finished eating half of a delectable, juicy watermelon in the warm afternoon sun of an exceptionally beautiful mid-May day. Somewhere between 75 and 80 degrees, just enough breeze to cool you off ever so pleasantly... Absolutely no clouds in the sky... A variety of birds tweeting out their different tunes in the trees, and loads of insects buzzing around the moist, soft grass... Though oddly enough, they haven't gotten close enough to get annoying. It really is a most superb day.

Anyhow, my watermelon. I was eating it. I slowed down, And really looked at it. Thought about it. How amazing it is. Millions of teeny tiny little spheres seem to adhere to one another, suspending the sweet, pinkish juice... Creating that unique, melt-in-your mouth experience when you bite into the pink flesh.

The flavor was awesome. I couldn't remember anything like it. I realized - that's because I had never had anything like it. Every single piece of fruit is unique and different. No two flavors are exactly the same.... In a world where every morning you get the same flavor coffe from Starbucks, you enjoy the same flavors every time you eat ramen noodles or McDonalds or B-Dubs, and you get the same experience every time you suck on a lollipop or bite into a snickers bar.... Fruit is special. Fruit is unpredictable. Fruit is an adventure.

And how crazy are all the different kinds of fruit?! Every type of plant produces a fruit SO different from the next! A leaf.. Well, whether it comes from a head of kale or a head of romaine... It may be a bit differently, but honestly... They're still greens. They taste green. And they look like... A leaf. But honestly... Where is the semblance between a pineapple and cherry?! Every type fruit has different flavor and texture and colors and nutrients. That is incredible.

As I ate the watermelon, the world seemed so bright and beautiful. Birds sang to each other and branches full of bright green leaves swayed in the breeze as they harvest the suns energy. It must be hard work, though they make it look so effortless. And then they take that energy...and package it up into a sweet, delicious little package, all ready to nourish us heterotrophs.

How beautiful and miraculous it is that the world would create and provide us with such a perfect thing as fruit, at no cost to us. How wonderful it is that everything fits and works together so perfectly. How fantastic it is that I have the luxury of being able to take the time to sit and really appreciate and enjoy it all. And how amazing is watermelon?! How amazing is fruit!

My big post-watermelon belly.. Full, happy, and oh so content! My tummy's actually often considerably even bigger than this after eating a good meal. Don't be afraid to eat to much fruit! There's nothing hot about having a flat stomach and being miserable and grouchy 'cause you're starving!

Circle Of Life

A common argument that people seem to have when I tell them about what I eat, and why, is "Eating meat, and death is kind of just the circle of life," or something to that effect. This is true. It is a dog eat dog world. Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten.

It is also worth noting that in this 'circle of life' people would die in harsh winters, without a way to keep warm. People would starve to death or be eaten by a predator should they break a leg. Chances are there would be no blind or deaf among us. Certainly no special ed left. Why? Because that would be the circle of life. A disability such as any mentioned above would render the person unable to care for themselves, and therefore they would die. So why don't they?

Because we have overcome the circle of life. With our highly developed brains capable reason and understanding and caring and compassion and love, we have found ways around the circle of life. In the same way that it should be no trouble to avoid this so-called 'circle of life' that means ruthlessly and unneccessarily murdering other species for various reasons.

So why haven't we? I feel that at this point, we are still a relatively primative species. We have the brains and the capability - but we are still exploring them.

Imagine an eight year old who has inherited billions of dollars. Essentially, an inexhaustible amount of money. He uses it to buy video game systems, toys, fun things for himself. As he grows older, he learns to invest it, use it in wise ways to better his life, and probably those of the people around him. I would say we are somewhere in between these two stages, maybe closer to the second. However, as this lucky person grows even older, he is exposed to people hurting, starving, suffering. He realizes that his money will do so much more good being used to help benefit the entire world, rather than just he.

At this 'stage' in 'life' we realize that the world isn't all about us. This incredible intelligence isn't for making us as comfortable and happy as we can be personally, it's not for shutting us away from the world, removing us from its problems. No. These brains unlock a world that other animals havn't got access to, because, primitive as we are, they are more primitive - not even producing the capacity to love or care or reason (or so it would seem. I suppose I don't know for sure).

For this reason, it must be us that set the example for everything else. We need to be the ones to make our own decisions, based on our own ability to think and reason, not a primal animals urges to eat and procreate. We need to set an example. We, with the highest developed brains and highly developed societies, need to be an example to lesser species - not the other way around. Eating meat because your cat does would be like a 15-year-old girl peeing her pants because her 1-year-old sister does it.

We have the ability to reason and think and love. We have the ability to realize the beauty, the purity, the freedom, and necessity, of living a life of harmlessness and non-injury. All we need to do now is realize that, no matter how much we love the taste of chicken quasadillas, or grilled salmon, what we really want is to make the world a better place - like they taught us when we were young: Leave it better than we found it.

❤

Fruitarianism & Religion

I'm going to precede this post with the statement that I don't know a lot about a lot of religions and belief systems. However, I do know something about a few - and of you really look, they all seem to point to fruit being the best and purest of foods for humans to eat.

Seeing as I was raised in a Christian community, in a semi-Christian home, and it's really a pretty simple concept, I'll adress this first: People of the Christian and Jewish faith (and maybe even Islam? I don't know) believe in the Garden of Eden. From what I understand of it, in this Garden of Eden, nothing harmed anything else. Essentially everything was perfect. What did they eat in the Garden of Eden? Fruit. They had to, to have been living truly in harmony with everything else, and not harming anything else. Therefore, the Christian and Jewish Bible (and perhaps Muslim Qu'ran) seem to illustrate fruit as being the first, natural, purest, and ideal food for..well, everything.

Buddhism, too, seems to advocate a fruitarian diet, perhaps even more clearly than Christianity.

8. "'Having abandoned the destruction of life, the recluse Gotama abstains from the destruction of life. He has laid aside the rod and the sword, and dwells conscientious, full of kindness, compassionate for the welfare of all living beings.' It is in this way, bhikkhus, that the worldling would speak when speaking in praise of the Tathāgata.

11. "Or he might say: 'Whereas some honorable recluses and brahmins, while living on food offered by the faithful, continuously cause damage to seed and plant life — to plants propagated from roots, stems, joints, buddings, and seeds — the recluse Gotama abstains from damaging seed and plant life."

These are two small excerpts from the 'Digha Nikkaya,' one of many Buddhist religious readings, which I feel speak for themselves. Enough said.

The last religion I want to touch on is Hinduism, seeing as it is the..3rd (I believe?) most popular religion in the world. Admittedly, I don't know a heck of a lot about this religion. All I do know is that Ghandi, who was pretty much an amazing guy and an exemplatory Hindu, aspired to be fruitarian. He did follow a fruitarian diet for a while, but I have heard that he was somewhat addicted to goat cheese or something, so he had some trouble with that. Nevertheless, his intentions were clear. I suppose perhaps his wish to eat this way had nothing to do with his faith..but I doubt it; I assume he made the decision based on principles that he learned growing up Hindu, meaning that such principals are indeed ingrained in the Hindu faith.

One last thing I want to point out, is that it's not just religion that suggests we ought to be fruit eaters. Most of us believe in evolution. Most of us believe that we evolved from apes, or some sort of monkey like species of the like; I don't know specifics. But I do know that generally, unless I am severly mistaken, animals in this family are frugivores. If we evolved from these frugivores, it is not such a huge leap of faith to realize that - hey. Perhaps we are designed to be frugivores as well.

How many different ways to we need to be told, how clear does it need to be for us before we realize that we aren't supposed to be ripping flesh like wild cats, nibbling grains like birds, or munching herbaceous matter like cows? We are frugivores. We are designed and meant to eat fruit. Forget what the doctor, who won't have a job when you are perfectly healthy, told you. Nevermind that biased experiment funded by the meat and dairy industries, and listen to me; a person who has nothing to gain, but the satisfaction of knowing that I helped a fellow human realize a simple, essential truth: We are frugivores. Eat fruit, be healthy, be happy.

☺