The world seemed to have gone crazier and crazier every day. Sometimes I wondered whether it is because a lot of us have become so accustomed to a more peaceful lifestyle in our parts of the world, so we got bored, and we need someone or something to hate to make life more meaningful. The tolerance and respect that was built up since the last great wars seemed to have waned so much that mankind is happy to go down that road again and impose a self-inflicted wipe out. Thanos’s snap (or decimation) might be fictional on screen and on page, but sooner or later mankind might just as well do that to itself.
The vegan activist protests this morning that brought the Melbourne CBD to a halt is one of the good examples. I mean their intentions were good, to protect animals etc. but then bringing the city to a stop during rush hours to state a point? That is seriously too much. At the end of the day going vegan is a personal conscience and choice. I respect that, but at the same time they need to respect others too. Mankind were not born herbivores, and that’s why we need meat as part of our diet. I applaud those who make a stand for their conscience and want to go vegan, but it is not those who consumed meat that caused the issue. It is the people who operate the business who are the problems, so got hassle them, go hassle the government. Don’t hassle other people simply because they are having a diet that they were biologically built to consume. There is a reason that humans were built as omnivores: to have choices in their diet and be balanced. And I would expect any reasonable human being to apply this to other aspects of their lives. It is not your job to force your conscience and believe on to others, especially through the disruption on other people’s lives. If so, you just became the Pharisees and Sadducees of modern diets.
The perfect balance, a concept that I felt less and less being understood and appreciated. Someone questioned my belief about my non-vegan diet as compared to my strong stand against global warming and fights for environmental protection. The mixed up of these issues seemed to make me look paradoxical about my beliefs but they are not. I oppose inhumane treatment of animals, but at the same time I believe a balanced food chain is essential for the Earth to survive, and by protecting the Earth that we live in we are doing our best effort to maintain the balance of this food chain and thus the world. In Florida, local fauna is being annihilated by introduced pet pythons that were released into the wild because they grew too big. This disrupts the balance and thus leads to the extinction of local fauna. That is similar for Australia’s cane toad situation. Mankind being the most developed species on Earth has the natural obligation to protect this world, and hence the fauna, flora and landscape of this Earth. The balance between obligations and rights is what needed to be achieve to protect our own existence in this world. But a number of those currently in power are not, so we are upsetting the balance and destroying the very fabric we rely on to survive. Also, the notion of some of these people that this will not happen within their generation exposed how selfish they are to be even in power. I oppose them because they are destroying the perfect balance I seek to make this world a better place.
Similarly, those who enforce their beliefs on those are doing the same thing in a social and communal context. We are entitled to what we believe in but that does not give us the right to dominate and force our beliefs on to others. The society flourishes and progresses because of different views and opinions that seeks to balance and counter-balance each other. As soon as we ignore this important aspect of a harmonious society, we push our society onto the blink of unrest or even war. And thus I oppose that too. And in my opinion that’s what the vegan activists were doing today in Melbourne CBD.
I was brought up as a Christian and that is as hardcore a faith as you can expect. However, what I took from the Bible are not just the 10 commandments but the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You cannot miss any one of them to live a balanced life. However, nowadays, what we saw in a number of so-called religious institutions or leaders, or even political leaders who claimed to be following the Christian faith, the teachings were just there for them to pick and choose to justify their means and ambitions. This fundamental imbalance in their so-called Christian faith is the most un-Christian you could expect. This leads to all the unrest in the world that we are experiencing in this day and age.
I might be too idealistic to fight for this long absence perfect balance, but I have the confidence that I am not the only person who felt that. I do believe that we don’t need to go to the Thanos’ extreme to achieve this balance, but just really live a life based on a collective non-radicalised conscience.
