An Omnivore's Morals

Today the family guinea pig, Larry, died.  This morning he wasn’t eating, and when he tried to move around it was apparent he had suffered a stroke of some sort.  Although he wasn’t making any noise like he was in pain, he had lost the ability to eat.  We were going to take him to the vet to be put to sleep, but before that happened he died.

Santa Larry for Xmas

This has been hard for me.  When I first met Larry I thought very little of the rat.  He always bit my finger mistaking it for some fruit or something.  Even drew blood once.  But in his twilight years he settled down some, and suddenly, like a switch went off, I liked him.  I liked him a lot.  Multiple times a day I would take him out of his cage to hold him and pet his little head, hearing him purr and squeak.  I found it calming.

I knew his time was fast approaching, he had lost a lot of weight and like I said he was a lot less energetic.  Knowing my time with him was short, I tried to make an effort to make sure his last months were good months, giving him a cherry tomato or a blueberry every day.

Anyways, right after I was told Larry was on his way I really didn’t know what to do, so I decided to make lunch before heading to the vet.  I made chicken salad, my specialty. It’s paleo awesomeness, canned chicken, homemade paleo mayo, even has bacon.  After breaking up the bacon into crumbles I licked my fingers and, while staring at Larry’s cage, tearing up because I’m thinking about how much he meant to me, I thought to myself, ‘damn this bacon is delicious.’

That, in a nutshell, is the conundrum I faced.  How can I mourn the life lost of one animal while simultaneously enjoying the tasty rendered fat of another?

“Am I a hypocrite?”

“Am I an uncaring predator?”

“Am I supposed to be, gasp, a vegan?”

I think, nay hope, that the answer to all three is “no”.

I’ve always thought that it is my duty to myself and the world to be the happiest I could be.  This world doesn’t have enough people who are self-actualized.  And for me to reach self-attainment, for me, is to be as healthy as can be.  That means strong and fast.  And I simply cannot do that on a vegan diet.  The human body was designed for meat consumption. This is just the way things have to be.  Tigers need to kill gazelles to survive, Pythons need capybaras to live. And so do humans.  That’s just how I feel (feel free to enlighten me in the comments section if you disagree).

Death is a part of life, and I owe it from all those animals I have depended upon for sustenance to live the best life I can possibly live.  And while I believe meat eating is necessary, I don’t think animal suffering is.  That is one thing that I know we as humans have control over.  That is one reason why I always try to buy my meat from local places where I know the animal has led a good life and was humanely killed.  It is also another reason why I try to avoid Dairy and eggs.  Look, Larry would viciously grab a cherry tomato out of my hand and run back to his little house to snack on it. That’s just who he was.  And if he were capable of it, I think he would understand my need to eat meat.  That’s just who I am.  And to deny myself what makes me happy/healthy wouldn’t really change the world, I think it would just make it a sadder place.

Forgive me writing about this stuff is not easy, these subject matters are very murky to me.  But I don’t think I’m a hypocrite, I’m just a person who accepts for me to truly live other animals must die, yet I am still allowed to form bonds with creatures that I don’t deem a food source.  I also don’t think I’m uncaring, I just accept the fact that all life must come to an end one way or another, and an omnivore eating meat is about as natural as can be.  And I really don’t think I’m supposed to be a vegan.  It just seems way to unhealthy for me to be happy.

I do not write this as an article condemning others who have chosen different paths, this is just how I, personally, see life.  Larry, you will be missed.