Every year we have a St. Patrick's Day Party at church complete with Irish Music, Storytelling and of course Irish food like corned beef and cabbage. I was talking to some friends today who were questioning if corned beef should be served since the whole community has been talking about the effect of meat eating on the environment. One lady said that she really enjoyed the colcannon which is basically cheesey potatoes with cabbage - although some people make it with cream instead of cheese. When I offered that I would be eating only the vegetables made without meat or dairy I was asked: "What is wrong with milk and cheese?" Most of the community has known of my vegetarianism for the past 20+ years but going vegan is still new to some people. Since the woman was very sincere and surprised that dairy was not good I had to ask: "Do you really want to know?"
I remember the many years when I thought that the dairy industry was so much better than the beef industry. At least I thought, they didn't kill the cows. How little did I know! And once again I had to face the fact that most people have no idea how the milk in their refrigerators is produced. Sure they know that milk comes from cows, but the idea that the cows are not treated well, that they suffer when their babies are taken away, suffer again when they are re-impregnated only to have another baby taken away so that humans can have the milk, and then, after giving birth 5-6 times, and giving thousands of gallons of milk to the dairy industry, when they get tired and their overworked bodies wear out, they are sent to be slaughtered, ending up as hamburger - this does not register well with kind hearted ladies who are trying to be nice and live with love and compassion.
We humans certainly have an amazing capacity to avoid things we do not want to know especially if it will force us to change our ways, or give us nightmares.
But sometimes we really need to know.
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