Compassion? Ethics? Choices?

Can you even believe that Monday has rolled around so quickly? Damn, I'm not ready. But this is the week, I swear it, that I am going to finish this new screenplay so that I can start to tweak and needle and rewrite - my favorite part of the work.

But in the mean time I wanted to pop in here and talk to you about some changes that are afoot in my world.

Are any of you familiar with the 2003 documentary film THE CORPORATION? If you've not seen it, I highly recommend it. Yes 2003 is a long time ago, but that film is as current today (sadly) as it was then. I think you can even watch it free on Youtube. In any case, there was a segment in the film about dairy and the evil corporation Monsanto. It got me thinking about dairy and my choices as a consumer.

For over two decades I was a vegetarian, I swore I would never eat anything with parents or a face. 

I have often wondered why we have organizations around rescue and humane treatment of one of these animals yet think it's perfectly okay to put the other on the stove or in the oven. That's kinda fucked up.

I chose the vegetarian lifestyle out of compassion for animals. I decided that I would not eat anything that I couldn't kill myself. As I have no desire to kill a pig, chicken, lamb, or cow, I would not eat them. A couple of years of living on the West Coast of British Columbia had me indulging in the occasional bit of freshly caught wild salmon. It's very much a part of the culture out there. But when moving back to Ontario a year ago, I continued to eat fish and now I was eating not only salmon, but Tuna (dolphin friendly, pole caught) halibut and shrimp. I guess I sort of reasoned with myself that I'd done my fair share of fishing as a kid and did kill the fish and fry it up. So my theory of compassion sort of evolved. (not the best choice of words, perhaps devolved is better). But seeing this documentary and how these cows were abused and in pain got me thinking, wow I need to stop eating dairy and why does a fish not deserve the same compassion as the chicken or cow? 

However I got stuck on my cup of tea. What? Yeah, my tea. Since giving up sugar, my morning cuppa just ain't the same but it's drinkable. OR it was until I tried it with almond milk. Gross. Coconut milk. Nope. Forget soy, not even going there. Milk is the only thing that makes the tea even remotely drinkable. Yet am I okay with torturing a cow for a cup of tea? No. I am not.

First things first, some decisions needed to be made. Is it ethical to eat fish when I don't eat meat for compassionate reasons? How is a dolphin worth protecting but a tuna isn't? Decision made. Once the fish I have on hand is consumed, I will not be buying more. I am returning to a vegetarian lifestyle. I am not suggesting that everyone in the world do this, I am saying this is the right choice for me. But could I be a vegan? He Who Shall Not Be Named is vegan, so it's not like it would be a super hard decision in my family. However, many of the foods I loved as a vegetarian I can no longer eat because they contain soy and wheat. (Ah, there's the WHEAT post reminder again, I'll get there Janice I promise). So no tofu, no tempeh, no tofurkey, not a lot of veggie burger options as most contain eggs, what to do?

I did my research on the organic dairy company that I get my milk from. Turns out that they are a co-op made up of small family run local farms. Some produce organic feed that in turn feed the free range antibiotic hormone free cows that provide milk. I looked at photos of the farms and the families and read the bios and practices and it all seems very sustainable and nice. Of course they are not going to put up pics of sick cows or anything like that. But still.

On the other hand, the good and noble folks at PETA say that animals are not here for us to consume, wear or be entertained by. I do agree (mostly), I think my dog is pretty entertaining.

And I also happen to think my girl Myla's dog is very entertaining. Check him out HERE. He's all business.

Yet when I think of what these small farms are doing I sort of like them. Yes they are making a living off the backs of animals but are those animals not living a pretty decent life because of that? Would they exist or be slaughtered otherwise? I'm genuinely asking your thoughts dear reader. Do you think it might be a worthwhile endeavour to support our local farms so that big industry or corporation owned operations cannot muscle their way onto our land to mistreat the animals, generate harmful waste and abuse the land with all their chemicals and pesticides etc?

Or should we just turn our backs on the use of animals altogether and survive without them on a purely plant based diet? That's the bigger question.

He Who Shall Not Be Named and I took a long walk this morning and we wandered through a beautiful neighborhood here in Toronto with large homes and expansive yards. As we walked we dreamed of living in such a place and I posed a question to him. What if we were to live in a place like this and keep chickens? We could care for them and love them and feed them well and give them a good standard of living - in other words have happy chickens. Would you eat the eggs then? He considered this and his answer was yes. So knowing that the chickens are well cared for and loved and happy gives us an opportunity to enjoy an egg at breakfast. I understand that we can't all each own our chickens. And in the early days perhaps this was how trade happened. One person had chickens and another had a cow with milk and someone else grew the veggies and everyone traded and fed one another. Yes, that's an ideal world. Then the corporation came.

I guess I am toying with the idea of veganism but I'm not there yet. I am a selfish girl who wants her cup of tea as she sits at her computer making up stories. But I kind of take some pleasure in the thought that I am perhaps providing entertainment to those who provide me with an egg or milk for my tea. Am I living in a fantasy world? Or could we go back to this way of being if we made the choice to support local and organic and sustainable small business. Ooooooh, we could even shop locally for clothing and other items thereby eliminating the need for foreign sweat shops and child labor. I dunno, just musing I suppose.

I'd love to hear what you think.
Have a great week.
xox
Shan