Just Because We CAN Do Something Doesn’t Mean We Should

“Just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should. Ability doesn’t mean prerogative.”

Unfortunately, I’ve heard this more times than I could count on my teeth: “Humans are meant to eat meat. Just look at these incisors in my mouth.” When we compare the physiology of a human with that of a carnivorous animal and with that of an herbivorous animal, it’s clear that we resemble the latter substantially more than we do the former.

But, even if I were not able to illustrate that our physiology resembles herbivores way more than it resembles carnivores, it still doesn’t matter.

Simply by virtue of the fact that what we know that we can survive – and actually THRIVE – on a plant-based diet and have no nutritional requirements for the flesh or fluids of animals — that we have no need to kill animals for our own survival, means that we need to take a hard look at our excuses for killing over 10 billion animals in this country alone every year.

I say that I believe the real reason we kill and eat animals is simply because we can, and that’s just not good enough. Just because we can doesn’t mean we should. Just because we once did doesn’t mean we always have to. Once we know better, I think we have the obligation and responsibility to do things better?