"I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for? ...we need the books that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen sea inside us." -Kafka
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
What Now?
So we've all finished Eating Animals. I find myself asking, now what? What will I personally choose to eat after reading this book? I don't know if I can give a definitive answer. I think it would be unrealistic for me to say that I won't eat meat anymore. In a way, though, I almost feel obligated to. I have so much more insight into the factory farming industry after reading this book that I don't know how I could simply ignore everything I now know. But at the same time, I feel an emotional disconnect. JSF addresses this in the last section of the book, but I still feel like, even if I became a vegetarian, would it matter? I am certainly more aware of where the meat I eat comes from, but I also find myself asking, how much does that really matter? I've been raised by two physicians and have eaten healthy all my life. Organic everything (but how much does that really matter, either?). JSF posed the same question a few times throughout the book: are the chicken patties we eat in the caf or the bacon we eat for breakfast really worth what the animals they were made from had to go through? No is the obvious answer, and I agree with that. But what will I do with all of this new knowledge? Maybe I just haven't let it sink in yet. Feeling a bit overwhelmed and don't know how this will ultimately affect my eating habits.
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