Human Divinity

Forewarning: It's a vegetarian's tirade.

Although I have avoided using this blog space to vocalize my vegetarian opinions, I began thinking today during a classtime zone-out about the realities of the human anatomy and people's general misconceptions about it. I also started reflecting on the unfortunate circumstance of our world and our overall disregard for anything beyond ourselves.

The immediate assumption that most people have when they think about a vegetarian diet is that you won't be getting enough protein and that your health will suffer. However, diet specialists (including doctors and the American Public Health Association) have asserted that vegetarians have lower chances of heart disease and colon cancer, among other ailments. Vegetarians also tend to live longer and be in better shape. These same professionals also have a general understanding that Americans get about twice as much daily protein as they even need, and have affirmed that protein comes not only from meat but many vegetables and grains as well. (In fact, plant-based protein is much healthier, lacking in fat and cholesterol).

There has been a lot of research done, in addition, to prove that the human body not only doesn't need meat but is actually better off without it, our digestive system being more suitable for plant material. Consider our closest animal-kingdom relative, the primates, who are predominately herbivores! Though they do consume some animal protein, the majority of their diets is plants. Our teeth (including our "canines") are very similar to those of primates, and our digestive tracks, like those of primates, are much longer than those of carnivorous animals. We have adopted a carnivorous diet simply because we can, not because we needed to. (Some people argue that our meat obsession came from the fact that, thousands of years ago, since most plants were seasonal, meat was the only constantly-available food. Clearly, today there are fruits and vegetables available year-round.)

So I began wondering today... what would our world be like if we as humans had evolved as herbivores instead of carnivores? Chances are we would value all lives the way we value our own, and we would have a deeper respect for the existence of the natural world in addition to our own comparatively insignificant presence. We wouldn't exert control over animals and natural resources simply because we could. People are roughly unanimous in saying that humans have a divine right over their world and, because this belief is so widespread and supported by religious texts like the Bible, I'm not about to say that we don't. However, I would like to point that just because we have the dominion over something doesn't give us the right to impose cruelty over it. With power comes the responsibility to protect, not profit from.

***If you disagree with me, please feel free to leave a comment. You can even leave it anonymously. I've read articles against this argument, and I always appreciate critical, articulate doubt. ***