Theos-Talk Archives (February 1997 Message tl00500)

Christine:
>MKR wrote
>>I agree that a lot of experimentation has to be done and will be done.
>>I have been a vegetarian (lacto) all my life and eat spicy food and has
>>seen no problem with protein needs. My family is also lacto vegetarian.
>>Most of my neighbors think we save a lot of money by being a vegetarian.
>>
>>Also most of the people in India are
>>vegetarians and even those who eat meat only eat may be once a week and
>>some only once a month, because meat is very expensive. Also on all holy
>>days of Hinduism, no one eats meat.  I have known several diabetics and
>>have not seen any problem with vegetarian food.
>>
>Shame on you Doss - this looks like an attempt to impose your view on we
>meat eaters.  Can you not accept that different matabolisms (perhaps
>racially determined), different climates and different lifestyles impose
>different dietary requirements.  India may be famous for it's gurus, but
>not, I think, for its great intellectual and technological genius.  Horses
>for courses.  Am I smelling that old TS lack of respect for difference
>emerging here on this list?

Christine,

I really think that any time that someone voices an opinion is an
imposition of views (passive or aggressive, meaning is same).  Thus, I know
I've been guilty many times, as I am now.  And I greatly enjoy it when
somebody voices it straight from the heart, and not covered in roses.
Roses are nice, but only if they're genuine, and some are covered with
thorns.  Thus, Doss, Chuckie, Alan, Ann, etc., are all imposing on us.

When I was a meat eater, I resented statements that meat eating will
prevent you from being in touch with your higher self, as if us meat eaters
were doomed to be mired in our muck.  As I witnessed, vegetarianism,
proclamations of doing good for man/womankind, and spirituality does not
prevent people from talking badly of one another, does not prevent people
from being control hungry, and does not prevent conflicts among people and
within themselves.

When I became mostly vegetarian (still love sushi), I kept on being asked
whether I would like to share in the meat dishes by people who knew my
diet.  Worse still, sometimes they would literally wave a plate of steak
right under my nose to tease me.  This is not because I lectured to them
about vegetarianism.  In fact, due to my meat eating past, I am very
sensitive about staying quiet about it, and making it blend in as much as
possible.  When I am invited to other people's house for dinner, I do not
request special treatment.  I just quietly eat the vegetables.  On the
other hand, my meat eating friends won't stay quiet about it.  In fact,
this weekend, I went out for Dim Sum with members of this carnivorous
household, and THEY wouldn't stop talking about how good meat was and why
on earth anyone would want to eat vegetables (with statements like, "Look,
Thoa, there's something green approaching.")  Finally, I told them that if
they keep this up, they're going to start hearing the virtues of
vegetarianism from me.  I'm going to start writing odes to broccoli.

Anyway, forcing habits on yourself before you genuinely believe in it, is
self-defeating.  It's better to feel your belief first and then change your
habit accordingly.  Don't change your habit just because you want to be up
to other people's standards.  Their standards may not be that great,
anyhow.

BTW, India was one of the earliest birth places of math, sciences, and
religion, while most everyone else was busy conquering with clubs.

Thoa