LEO TOLSTOY, On Civil Disobedience
Perhaps I was quite the tree-hugger back in college, obsessed with preserving nature and saving the environment. Hardcore would be an understatement when it comes to saying that I was hardcore environmentalist, no… I was an earth warrior defending its dignity, pride and honor… or so I thought.
I started my vegetarian diet back in the latter part of my college years, when I even bothered to volunteer for this NGO that’s quite known all over the globe and even allowed them to garnish certain amounts from my bank account each month. It passed and after almost two years I went back to eating meat since my previous job required it and that something happened, something that changed my life forever (well, not really. I went back to my vegetarian diet eventually)
Something altered my philosophy about the world that I went back to being a careless citizen of the world who doesn’t care if the world is being damaged and degraded by our unfettered use of fossil oil, smoking and improper waste disposals.
Imagine, back then, I wouldn’t surrender my clothes unless they’ve been worn for at least three days, I don’t wear them for three consecutive days mind you. I don’t flush the toilet, unless I really have to and I have tried desperately to avoid using paper towels, tissues and would keep a hanky handy always.
I left my car home and didn’t bother using it, if I can walk to the place of destination then in a heartbeat I would.
You must think I’m a crack pot back then but thankfully I didn’t look like a hobo, despite the abandon of ironing my uniforms. My friends refer to me as Korean back then because Koreans don’t iron their clothes.
For the love of nature I forsook meat, although my diet back then wasn’t as strict as mine to this day. I easily get tempted to eat Lechon whenever there’s an occasion but I followed the diet most of the time. I was a Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian whereas today I’m simply a Lacto Vegetarian.
Perhaps you would slap me with a steak if I tell you that being a vegetarian is easy, back then it wasn’t. I really had to exorcise myself to forget about meat back in college and at such an age of 19, that is something kids of my age won’t even dare think of. I even tried growing a tomato in a pot which I aptly named Kammy (Kamatis) but died since I wasn’t able to water if for two days.
Going for red meat is not my thing and would prefer white meat always. The process I took was from Pollotarian (Chicken eater) to Pescetarian (Seafood eater) to Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian then to Omnivorian then suddenly to Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian again then now to Lacto Vegetarian ( Taking off eggs from my diet, since I’m terribly allergic to them)
There are a lot of reasons why I went back to being a vegetarian.
One: Is that my acquired pilgrimage required it
When we eat animal meat, we take in their sorrowful souls. When they die, which is most probably in the most horrifying way, they emit sorrow since they are in pain and if you partake in their meat, you take in their sorrow. Eating meat agitates people, making them irritable and in constant worry. The negative energy is of course passed on to the person who eats it.
In my pilgrimage, we are required with emphasis never to cause sorrow.
Two: Is that I believe that the most effective protest against violence on animals is by not eating them.
I profess certain contempt to those who rally and tag me on facebook to support and fight against animal violence when they themselves can’t even consider not eating them.
Protesting against animal violence when you too eat animal meat is no more different than someone promoting peace by having a gun and shooting everyone she sees. Let’s just say you don’t eat dogs or cats, but why would the pigs, chickens, cows and others have to go through such tragic lives? Their animals too.
Three: It’s healthy
The meat we eat now are stuffed with drugs to make them fatter and grow faster that the risk of getting sick today is higher than in the previous decades.
A huge company in the Philippines, a really huge one I can’t dare name it, has their chickens inside a 24 hour air-conditioned warehouse, since this type of poultry can’t stand the heat in the country and would pre-maturely die of heatstroke. It’s those featherless, headless chicken you now see in supermarkets that are wrapped in plastic and are placed in ice in the wet section.
Four: You give a hand to nature by eating veggies and help prevent global warming
Believe it or not, you add more greenhouse gases by eating meat than by driving a car, what more if you do both?
Five: When you buy something, you don’t just use it or consume it for its purpose. You vote for
It. If you bought a pair of jeans that was made in China and was made in a sweat shop with children as laborers then you vote for child labor.
It requires will power and discipline to be a vegetarian but it can be done.
I give Virka baths whenever I come over to my friend's place and walk her whenever I can. Dogs are nice pets but I prefer cats.
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| This is Virka. She lives in Olongapo with my friend. My favorite dog among dozens of dogs in the household. |
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