Lettuce Prey

As I leave the house at an ungodly hour, it is refreshing to feel the chill kiss of the coming Autumn in the air. We stand in the season of harvest, and the hunting season is about to begin. That always puts me in a philosophical mood! As such, let us let the stream of consciousness flow.

I have an acquaintance who has recently gone vegan, in his case solely for the experience, but some choose to avoid animal products based on moral reasons. Now, I am not one to be critical of another’s religion, my own being in the minority, but I have to take exception to the attempt to paint dietary choices an ethical light.

Being omnivores, we only persist from one day to the next by consuming other life forms. Whether plant or animal, only by killing and eating others do we draw breath! Now in our modern refrigerated society the vast majority of the population is divorced from the death we deal every day. Our meat is separated from the big brown eyes, and furry skins that mother nature packaged it in and is substituted with Styrofoam and saran wrap. That separation from the slaughter our meals requires all to often takes our minds away from that stark fact.

For my vegitarian friends, the half cow, pig, 25 chickens, and 40 fish my life costs every year is small death in comparison to the generational genocide consuming piles of fetal bean plants, handfuls of rice babies, and boxes of alphalfa seedlings at each meal.

I would encourage you all to be mindful of the creatures great and small, green and fuzzy that fall to allow each of us to persist. Thank them for their sacrifice and the gift they offer. Take a moment before you toss the steak on the grill, or that ear of corn in the boiling water to consider what has happened to bring that nourishment to the table, and then relish it! Relish your position as the alpha  land predator for that is how you were made!

For those willing to take the next step, I encourage you to hunt for food this fall. It is a heart wrenching emotional experience to embrace your Nature and defer the second hand killer shroud that we all wear for the majority of the year. Get some blood on your hands. Work for your food and take the responsibility to bring your meat from the field to the table. I have to say in light of my experience, hunting is not just an activity, it is an act of worship. Participating in the circle of life is tremendously more moral than the circle of groceries.

So in the coming months my Brethren, encourage the Wolf within you. Stalk the food our Loving Mother has placed in the wild for our benefit. Pass the hot sauce, and Lettuce Prey!