Are You Lucky Enough To Be Vegan?

I'm not superstitious at all - But here's some things I do know about "luck".

I share my home with "lucky" friends, who would otherwise have had dreaded misfortune. Being born without the advantages of thumbs and god-like ownership over their own lives - Their end probably would have already been done.  

Most were useless in the scheme of human plan.  One and all, they were considered burdens to feed or care for. Unplanned accidents... Waste from industries... Not worth the time or trouble to save... Unprofitable residue...  Nuisances and pests. All born "unlucky" to be "purposeless" in a world where everything must have value to the insatiable... That would be "us" the "lucky" ones: Homo Sapiens; Literally to mean the animals born with "taste" and "wisdom".

And being born creatures with such "smart appetites", aren't we so lucky to have created systems and diversions that allow us to consume without guilt?  The consequence to others escapes us in myths and lies that we author. This is especially true in our ravenous gluttony of the foods made of flesh.  They are invisible, the blood, bone and bodies of the "unlucky" ones that lost their lives for the sake of indulging ours...

We wise ones, deities of our own making, can sell cellophane wrapped stories, fairy tales, legends and doctrines that excuse us from the most horrid of practices.  These are some "lucky" lies that attempt to validate and reinforce our own species-granted privileges.

Now here's the hitch to being able to utilize those "lucky lies"... We must be "lucky" enough to make a habit of not investigating beyond our comfort zone.  "Lucky" enough to preserve the disguises that allow cons and deceptions to exist.  It's the simplest thing... All you have to do is not think or examine (meat or animals) too closely, and the grotesque realities never have to be acknowledged!

I once had that kind of "luck" when I saw a pig's head in a meat case at the Piggly Wiggly 30 years ago...

It infuriated and repulsed me so much that I complained to the manager!  I told him the pig-head was vulgar and disgusting! And that it wasn't decent to put me, or his customers, through the ordeal of seeing such an ugly thing! I felt completely satisfied when he agreed to remove the apple-biting specimen from view.  I felt content... Even as I wheeled my cart with ham, bacon and chops riding within.  I was "lucky" that my awareness was left unshaken and protected.  Blinded by conjecture and habit, I was "lucky" to stay "blessed" in the bliss of dissonance for many decades afterwards.  

But, like most of us here, that kind of "charm" eventually ran out.  For whatever reason, that fragile veil of secret "rites" was revealed for the trick that it was.  Gifted instead to see that behind the eyes of every creature, there is a somebody.  A kin of mine, a kin of ours, that had been born without human "luck".  These are fellow earthlings that only lack our cheat of might and favored lust.  And it's only our unquestioned indoctrinations of the crafty sham, that perpetuates their brutal curse. 

And thus, we make the "luck" of others better through our own actions.  We make decisions that alter their fate for the good. We choose not to harm lesser ones. Innocent ones. Helpless ones. We choose not to create victims.  We choose not to prey on the weak. We choose to challenge the false premises of traditions, "exceptionalism" and domination.  We rejected the status quo and live in ways that make things more fair. More equal. More thoughtful and kind.   At the heart of the matter, we choose not to eat these beings who are so "unlucky" not to be us.

What about you... Are you a "lucky" omnivore?  Or a just vegan?