#76: What’s Morals? (PART 8)

【Vegetarian】
Until some 150 years ago, the general consensus was that animals have no emotions, that animals don’t feel any fear or pain.
 
For people who eat meat, this brand of thinking was certainly a convenient escape from the crushing guilt of killing animals. Of course, it goes without saying that we now know scientifically that animals indeed have emotions just as we do.
 
For those of us who live with our dear companions including dogs and cats, we witness daily of their colorful emotions and intricate feelings. Likewise, when we live on a farm, we come to realize that chicken, pig, and cattle are emotional beings, too.
 
Both scientifically and from everyday experience, those of us who live here today know the truth that people of some 150 years ago didn’t.
 
What’s more, until some 200 years ago, slavery was mainstream across the world for over thousands of years. For instance, the 2-thousand-year-old Colosseum in Rome hosted gladiator “shows” for a span of nearly 500 years, where primarily enslaved people and prisoners of war were forced to kill each other or animals in a gruesome armed combat. Spectators enjoyed the bloody killings as entertainment, as if to cheer for our favorite player at the ballpark today.
 
From our contemporary perspective, we wonder How on earth were people back then able to behave that way without much concern?
 
Nonetheless, the same could very well hold true from the perspective of people a few hundred years from now, learn about us who live here today, and wonder How on earth were people back then able to mass murder animals and fish to eat without much concern?
 
Moreover, just as how humans learned that animals are emotional beings, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the day when science reveals that fish and even plants have emotions as well. In fact, we already find numerous studies that attest to this.
 
In this light, vegetables are plants and they’re living beings too, and as such, our plant-eating habits of today could very well raise a moral question from the perspective of people a few hundred years from now.
 
To be sure, our knowledge and science of today allow us plenty of nutrition intake without eating meat and fish, however, we still haven’t figured out how to stay healthy without eating vegetables. This forces upon us the inescapable reality that every animal sustains oneself by taking another life, the grievous limitation of life itself.
 
Nevertheless, despite such limitation, having a reason doesn’t make it morally correct. The troubling truth is that killing plants to eat is morally wrong, too, as we cannot conclude that It would be perfectly acceptable for me, you, our loved ones, and everyone else to be suddenly killed while enjoying our day.
 
We must face the guilt and accept the truth, while also acknowledging the grievous limitation of life itself. And once I’m there, the next step is What can I do from here on out?
 
Studying the ecology of a food chain, to reduce the killings as much as we can, the most effective course of action that we can take now is to eat vegetables and stop eating meat/fish.
 
Naturally, there are reasons to what we do, whether it’d be our meat/fish-eating customs, slavery, or war. Just as the slaughterhouse workers are hired to kill animals in the secluded corners of our cities, the soldiers are hired to kill people in the secluded corners of our world.
 
And too many of us turn a blind eye to this disturbing fact by simply reiterating the reasons because we don’t have to be the ones who kill with our own hands in front of our own eyes.
 
Nonetheless, when we view through the lens of morality, humans are advancing to end our killings in meat/fish-eating customs as well as in wars.
 
When we grasp the sweeping tide of history, we come to realize that our morality unequivocally charts an upward trajectory. It’s certainly not linear, and more like a zig-zag, yet when viewed in increments of several hundred years, the upward trend is clearly visible.
 
This remarkable tide of time is adopted by each and every one of us, and we’ll pass it on to the future generations, one person at a time.
 
Now, we’re still far from perfect and the moral pinnacle only visible in the distance, yet, let us take it upon ourselves to elevate the morality of humanity. As humans, it’s indeed our responsibility.

Read Previous: What’s Morals? (7)【We Can Reduce】
 
Complete Series: What’s Morals? (1)～(8)
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Read Theme: Morality