There seems to be a common thread in the two current debates concerning both war and animal production practices. While they may seem like completely different topics, both address the value of life.

I don’t see how anyone, in good conscience, could agree to the taking of a life. It is contradictory for Americans to look at the loss of life on Sept. 11 as a tragedy, and at the same time condemn innocent citizens of the Middle East to the same fate. Americans as a whole are much too convinced of their own superiority and through flawed reasoning we somehow manage to convince ourselves that our own lives are more valuable then anyone else’s.

This also applies to other animals. Why do we see it right to kill another being for our own luxury? We avoid the issue by saying that they aren’t intelligent, but how does that justify their suffering?

It has been proven that animal products aren’t necessary for a healthy diet, yet few give thought to giving up eating meat. If you think about it you could eat a steak that something had to die for or you could eat a peanut butter sandwich guilt-free; you could support the deaths of innocent people in other countries or you could choose to respect them and their beliefs. In both cases this seems like a rather small effort on our part while for the individuals we are considering, it is a matter of life or death.

All of us need to look beyond our own comfort to see these issues as they are.

Molly McDonald

Freshman

Animal Ecology