Hello! It's been a looong loong time since the last time I wrote (I mean, post!) in this space. Well, I'm working on a lot of things and I don't have time. :( I know I should spend some 'me-time' to do some 'me-things'. So because yesterday is Eid-day (it's Idul Adha on my country), and basically, it should be a national holiday in my country, I will write things coming to my mind several times ago.
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Last year, I was on a conference, and that time, I was having a conference dinner. For some religious reason, I order a vegetarian food. And there are also several people which order the same vegan menu. One of the people in the table asked us why we all be a vegan. Well I answered I'm not really a vegan, but because I can not eat pork (which is the menu that day), I order vegan things.
The other vegan girl replied 'I just don't want to harm animals'. And lastly, is a comment of a vegan guy 'How can we speak about morality if we still eat animals?'. Then there is a silence. After a couple of minutes, people change topic into other things.
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I remember this event because yesterday was Eid-day. In my country, the Idul-Adha is a celebrated day of Islam, where all Indonesian-muslim cut cattles in their place, usually, in an open-field, and it is watched by a lot of people in many ages. That day, the meat from these cattles are distributed to all the poors in that place, which maybe 'haven't taste a meat for a long time'. It is really a celebrated day where everyone is happy. I can imagine how vegan-people will think about us, it will looks like a barbaric party, where peoples slays animal happily.
But it's really not like that. Yes, I'm writing this because I'm defending our point of view (well I believe there's no such thing as objectivity in reality :P). This is how muslim cut animals: It's by cutting their head-off (sorry!). I've read in the news, some European country banned this kind of animals killing, and instead of cutting their head while their alive, they must be given an anaesthetic to sleep, then kill them while they're sleeping (ouch!).
Well, as long as I know, a good muslim must treat animal in a good way, and if they need to kill them, they must do it in a good way also: by looking at the cattle eyes, saying 'باسم الله' and 'الله أكبر' (not by shouting, usually they whispers), and then cut their heads, as quick as possible so that it minimizes the pain and suffer of the cattles. We believe that this is the best, most fair-way to butcher an animal. Well, I say 'fair' because the cattles know who killed them by looking into their eyes, and hopefully they understand that they are killed for something good.
For all people who wants to know about the history of Eid al-Adha, this is a nice link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_al-Adha
But how about morality?
I'm not a philosophy-student, but I'm curious about the answer of what is morality? How do people define morality? How can people say 'that thing is good', or 'that thing is bad'? I remember my post-doc friend, which has a little 2-years old kid tells us a story during lunch, about his kid asking 'Daddy, why some peoples are very bad? '. And this simple question really makes us in the table thought for a while! (and comes out without any satisfying answer. :P)
Yes, I think even now, we can not have a satisfactory definition about morality: how to defined it, and what is the origin, where does it comes from. Then, why eating animal makes us immoral in a vegan's eye, and why not eating animal makes them think they have more sense of morality than us, who eat animal? Can I also ask them: Then why you eat vegetables? Why eating animal count as immoral while eating plants is not? Doesn't plants also feel pains when we cut them? (Yes there is a research about this, I've read it somewhere).
I'm not trying to give an answer about what is morality, or trying to give a judge about eating animal is immoral or not. But I think it's more wiser not to judge people, because they have their own reason. I've judge people a lot in my past, I think now I'm a bit-wiser girl. :D (Yes, this 2-years-living-abroad changes me a lot! -well I hope in a nice way. :) ).
Aaaand, at last there is a very nice (and very wise, I think) explanation about how to view the 'chain-of-food' in Nature. It comes from King Mufasa, when he explain this to his son Simba, in Lion King, my fave childhood movie!
Let me transcript it:
Mufasa: "You see, Simba. Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance. As king, you need to understand that balance and respect all the creatures, from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope."
Simba: "But dad, don't we eat the antelope?
Mufasa: "Yes, Simba, but let me explain. When we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass. And so we are all connected in the great Circle of Life. "
Yes, in the 'wise' point of view of the chain-of-food, there is no such thing as hierarchy, because 'every living things, even the greatest King of the land, will come back to the earth'.
Happy Eid al-Adha! :)
