Kill Your Food...Or Not

(So I was out of town this weekend and lost my assignment sheet. That doesn't really excuse the lateness of this post, but I might as well contribute as best I can. So here it is, for your reading pleasure.)

The idea of hunting has never been one that appealed to me. It's not so much a moral stance, it's just not having a desire to kill anything. Everything has been available in my local grocery store (or national chain) so I don't really need to. But I can appreciate the hunters who do so for food, to claim the animal and use it for a number of purposes such as food or clothing or anything else they can do to waste as little of the animal as possible. That is understandable, if you want to grow your own vegetables or hunt your own food, who am I to stop you? As long as you stay within the confines of the law, you should be able to do as you please.

Where hunting does get iffy for me is in the sport of it. To essentially waste an animal, killing it solely for sport, seems unnecessary. Meat, and the animals we get it from, should be respected enough not to be wasted for fun. And this is coming from someone who understands that some do find real pleasure and fun from hunting. I've never done it, nor do I interact with those who do very often, but I do know people enjoy all sorts of things that I don't do, so I can deal with it. But there is so much you can do with a hunted animal, which includes putting it to good use.

Outside of that, I do find something appealing in harvesting food for oneself. There is a pride in doing so, in making a way for yourself, by yourself. Growing your own food seems like an interesting lifestyle, even when it includes raising animals to butcher and eat. The food chain, with us at the top, allows us to consume animals and plants, so why not do so? Of course, I side with those who would not want to be cruel to animals, but treat them with enough respect. The same goes for raising them, because they are beings that feel... I will only eat them because, like them, we are designed to eat certain things. I'm not one to question that, in fact, I embrace some of human's base animal instincts.

Harnack, Andrew. Animal Rights: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Print.

Ogden, Samuel. How to Grow Food for Your Family. New York, NY: A.S. Barnes, 1942. Print.