David,

<<
 Just how is killing a docile animal and eating its flesh supposed to teach
 you compassion, gratitude, reality ,assertiveness, etc?  I choose not to
 eat flesh because there is a better way ;  it is called eating plant food.
 We all have our opinions but this is mine.  Have you ever visited a
 slaughter house? I have and believe me it is the most disgusting place on
earth.  When I left this place the last thing I felt was any of the above
things that you  described.  David >>

I can imagine that slaughter house wasn't pretty.  But when millions of
people become dependent upon others to feed them, that's unfortunately what
happens. LIFE is ugly, that's reality.  I think you might feel differently if you
lived among some hunter/gatherer tribe, becoming hungry, then going on a hunt and
feeling complete and total love for an animal, and gratitude, and self-
forgiveness for your action, as you end it's life in order to sustain your
own.

It is compassionate to take LIFE for your own, even if it is an animal, when
YOU, innocent hungry YOU, needs it.  That is Self-Compassion, and only by
being Self Compassionate can you extend Compassion to Others.  If you can't
extend Compassion to your Self, you couldn't possibly extend it to Others.
That's why many vegans are preachy, they are sacrificing themselves, and
feel morally superior because of it, NOBLE, and then they try to get others to
join them in Sacrifice.  That is NOT compassion, that is hurting yourself and
leading others to do the same, all the while killing plants that wouldn't
normally be killed.  Not too fair for the plant kingdom, huh?

If you are hungry, and you love animals, and you realize instinctively that
you need to eat an animal, you develop a whole lot of gratitude towards them
for giving up their LIFE for your own.  Imagine if you were in a plane, and
the plane was crashing, and there is one parachute left, and you want it,
and the only other person, a 99 year old gentleman, says, "Go ahead, take, I
have lived a good, full LIFE, you need that parachute to LIVE, you're meant to
live, take it."

If that happened, you'd probably develop a whole lot of gratitude, and
compassion!  That old gent just surrendered to his fate, and did what he
felt was appropriate, compassionately.  And you took it, and saved yourself,
which was appropriate, and compassionate.  That you are aware of his sacrifice,
and can handle it, and express gratitude towards him, and appreciation towards
him in his last moments, is COMPASSIONATE!

When you realize that to do what is best for your self requires taking LIFE,
handling this reality, this sweet sadness, develops enormous compassion.
Plants are just as alive as animals, don't fool your Self, plants appear to
be highly, wonderful, giving, spiritual, empathetic beings without whom we
wouldn't have the oxygen to breathe!

There is a food chain, and the most compassionate thing we can do is eat
what our body truly wants us to eat, whatever it is, moment by moment so that
whoever is naturally supposed to die, be it plant or animal, dies, and not
the other one.  To only kill plants when your Body might rather have to eat a
piece of fish now and then, thereby increasing your intake of plants, is NOT
compassionate.  That's just choosing sides, that's prejudice.  You really
hate plants that much?

If you only wanted to eat plant foods, then naturally you wouldn't want
meat. But if you realized that you were not sustained on plant foods, and that
trying to live on only plant foods was equivalent to Martyrdom, you'd have
to make a choice - You or the Animal you Love.  This is where LIFE teaches us
great lessons, and we either sacrifice ourselves, or assert ourselves and
discover our self-worth, our inherent innocence and goodness, and the nature
of LIFE.

Personally, I would like to know why you Believe that animal suffering or
death is worse than plant suffering.  It's already been documented that
plants react to danger, injury, and react compassionately when fellow plants are
threatened, or injured.  Poor docile plant, can't even run away, eaten
alive. Never had a chance, raised for slaughter.

I would love it if plants could speak.  Not killing animals to kill more
plants is NOT compassionate.  You just identify more with animals, so
naturally, you feel more empathy, and in reality, I think humans naturally
feel more akin to creatures that are more closely related, which is why
you'd rather kill plants or insects than animals, even when your Body might have
you kill an animal now and then to optimally feed itself.

Tell you what, we'll lock you in a room with nothing but a tank of gold fish
for three months and you'll find out what I'm talking about.  It's arrogant
to assume that people aren't Starving on plant diets and that plant diets are a
better way.  That's moral judgment, that's judging human nature, and that
just creates problems, always has.   People ARE starving on plant-only diets.
You could be and not even know it.

ONLY when the body wants plants should a person eat plants, otherwise they
are taking LIFE that should not be taken, in my experience.  That is not
compassionate.  If you have to kill twice as many plants because you don't
eat a little meat every now and then, how is that balanced if your instinct
would have you eat that meat because there's actually something in that meat that
you really need, but don't get from the plants.

All primates eat non-plant foods, even if it's just insects.  Consider that
one day your reserves will wear out, and suddenly that fish you were trying
to save will become the key to your survival, and all those plants you ate and
killed, died in vain...  while all along you suffered, because you were
becoming deficient in some non-plant nutrient.

Aaron