Can We Talk About Me Now?

My most recent blog noted that the American meat habit cannot be sustained at the global level.

We can eat a lot of meat. Provided the rest of the world does not.

Well, let's face it. Our car and gas consumption don't work too well on a global scale either. But that doesn't stop us.

Strangely (or not so strangely) enough, the fact that China and other formerly quiescent nations are starting to behave like Americans just makes the global climate problem all the more alarming.

We who are alive today are observers of a great new experiment in which the world starts to act more American. It's not pretty.

And yet... Americans continue to live pretty much as we have.

We know we have a problem. And yet. Our habits don't change.

But this is not a blog on climate change. I'm just noting that we Americans have a long and cherished habit of ignoring the global implications of our own behavior.

So arguments for a vegetarian lifestyle based upon pleas for us to start consuming energy at a more Ethiopian pace... aren't going to fly.

Sadly, Americans don't care enough about animal or global welfare.

So let's talk personal welfare.

Needless to say, when Chistians discuss personal welfare and vegetarianism in the same sentence, an old Bible hero has a habit of popping up. Daniel.

It's a fact that my wife picked pretty much all the names of our children, but I gave my youngest son's his middle name: Daniel.

I've always loved Daniel. He's the poster boy of many wonderful things, the very least of which is the vegetarian lifestyle.

So as I wandered through the park on that sunny Sunday morning, Daniel certainly figured in my internal (and heated) debate.

Daniel 1:11-15 (abridged)
Daniel then said to the guard... “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

Now let's agree up front that Daniel was (apparently) not opposed to eating meat per se so much as he was concerned to not eat defiled foods — such as meat sacrificed to idols.

So it's not like Daniel was a fan of Bambi or a charter member of PETA.

But whatever his motives, the outcome is what it is. What proved true for Daniel is known to be true for everyone.

The vegetarian lifestyle is better for your health.

Plain and simple.

And to top it off, I've noticed that salads cost less than steak.

So we can let Rome (and our globe) burn...

But might we perhaps consider giving up meat for our own sake?

Ah... The American answer is, more often than not, No. We're the fattest souls on the globe, and we want to stay that way.

And me? What about me?

Well, I'm not overweight.
Not a candidate for heart disease.
I'm skinny.
And I can afford all the meat I want.

So if I don't care about the chickens, cows and pigs....
If I don't care about the globe...
If I'm not concerned for my health...
If I've got money to burn...
What's to keep me from my juicy steak? (Because I do still want it.)

But then I revisited the notion that God had an opinion on the matter.

That's when my Sunday morning stroll got serious.

To be continued...