TheTimesTribune.com, Corbin, KY

Editorials

Related Photos

  • John Burkhart

    John Burkhart.jpg

Discussion

February 4, 2013

Vegetarian — a cruelty free diet

The Times-Tribune

CORBIN — My mother and father were kind and gentle people not only to me but to every creature on our farm. They gave great care and even affection to cows, chickens and hogs; to some they even gave names. As a young child I did not make the connection between the pork chops on my plate and the hogs that affectionately pushed their noses through the fence for a kind rub. I was shielded from that connection until I was about 6. I did not know what to think. I had never been so shocked and even terrified seeing my ever-so-kind parents violently slaughtering these beautiful creatures they had been so careful to look after. The “hardening of my heart’’ took some years, adjusting to this bloody cruelty as the only path to meat on the table; the way of life for all our rural neighbors, as well as people all over the world.

Most vegetarians identify this cruelty to animals as their main motivation for avoiding meat. This seemingly heartless attack on animals appears to violate something in our natural and rational instincts; instincts to respect and appreciate life with all its marvels and perfections. Vegetarians and vegans are “pro-lifers,” for all life and preeminently for human life.

By my 12th birthday I had taken on the ways of rural life, fully suppressing my childish alarm at animal bloodshed. Nearly every week my mother directed me, “go get a chicken.” Walking into the chicken coup I would swoop up the closest chicken and gently lay its head on the chopping block. With neck relaxed and extended (these chickens were all so cooperative, looking up at my familiar face and hearing my kind voice, trusting the one who has fed them twice a day since they were hatched), I violently swung down the sharp blade of the corn knife for an instant decapitation. Going off to college at 18, I never mastered the annual, late-fall rifle shot between the eyes of a steer and a hog.

Ordering chicken McNuggets or a hamburger from McDonalds is a world removed from the prerequisite of bloodshed and death. Much of the same scene is found in the planned fatal savagery imposed on the innocent and helpless unborn humans, all sealed from view by the enclosed uterus; a ghastly abortive procedure that motivates millions to avoid the crime. Although we dare not equate animal to human life, pro-life comes naturally; acting on that human intuition of awe for all life.

Although both my wife and I may be calloused by our rural upbringing, we are sparse meat-eaters, mainly motivated by health research. Vegetarians and vegans are found to fare better at longevity.

Although periodic abstinence from meat has been a Christian tradition for centuries, demonstrating repentance for our sin and the strengthening of our will, Holy Scripture does not condemn eating meat. Yet considering our natural intuition from childhood, cruelty-free behaviors and diet merit respect.

The Rev. John Burkhart  Ph.D, is a retired Episcopal priest and professor of  psychology. Email him at

jandmburkhart@yahoo.com blog at inspirationsandideas

Text Only
Editorials
  • jim waters Coal problem worth tackling in Washington and Frankfort

    Despite hysterical cries from radical environmentalists, neither Sen. Rand Paul’s Defense of Environment and Property Act nor Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Coal Jobs Protection Act would allow activities that bring harm to Kentucky’s wildlife or waterways for the sake of propping up the coal industry.

    May 17, 2013 1 Photo

  • John Ross.jpg Dress appropriately for the situation

    I stopped in a fast-food restaurant this week for a giant sweet tea, and while I waited in line I saw a girl in her early 20s filling out a job application.

    May 16, 2013 1 Photo

  • Don McNay.jpg Life lessons from a lawyer’s lawyer

    One of the great moments of my life was sitting next to legendary Louisville attorney Frank Haddad at a luncheon when he found that he had received the first Peter Perlman Outstanding Trial Lawyer award from the Kentucky Academy of Trial Lawyers.

    May 15, 2013 1 Photo

  • 0203 Willie Sawyers.jpg Strange weather the new normal

    A lost weekend with endless rain. Two inches of hail in the northern part of Laurel County. Knee-deep grass. Cool, dreary days. And now, perhaps record-low temperatures and frost Sunday night.

    May 13, 2013 1 Photo

  • Ronnie Ellis.jpg Elections have consequences

    I’m subject to temporary bouts of disillusionment with politics and it’s dangerous to attempt columns in such a mood.

    May 13, 2013 1 Photo

  • 0511 Jerry Campbell.jpg I made a vow to God at the age of 7

    To my brothers and sisters, I want to testify to you of God saving my life. The first time was in 1950 in the winter. I came down sick with chicken pox, measles and mumps, with a temperature of 107 degrees — all at the same time. I was 7 years old.

    May 13, 2013 1 Photo

  • Brad Hall.jpg Giving thanks for my mother this Mother’s Day

    This Sunday is Mother’s Day so I could not pass up this opportunity to talk about what a blessing it has been to have a mother like mine.

    May 13, 2013 1 Photo

  • John Burkhart.jpg Water everywhere but where’s a drop to drink?

    Besides three water wells, there was a spring on our family farm. Clean untreated drinking water was abundant in my youth.

    May 13, 2013 1 Photo

  • John Ross.jpg Think about Mom this Sunday

    Motherhood is a job often under-appreciated. I know many mothers out there agree.

    May 9, 2013 1 Photo

  • Don McNay.jpg Helping the Wounded Trial Warrior

    I got the news that a friend killed himself. One of several lately. All of them middle age men. All of them trial lawyers.

    May 8, 2013 1 Photo