We've had this question before...
Nov. 24th, 2008 10:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
franklanguageHow do you graciously return a gift from Heifer International? It seems one of my well-meaning clients will be giving her corporate gifts from them, and if so I may be a recipient.
Considering that the gift is given in your name to someone else, it's especially tricky. I certainly don't want a cow slaughtered in my name—although they also do goats, sheep, and bees.
Considering that the gift is given in your name to someone else, it's especially tricky. I certainly don't want a cow slaughtered in my name—although they also do goats, sheep, and bees.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-24 03:56 pm (UTC)It's not like she's giving me a sheep!
Date: 2008-11-24 06:53 pm (UTC)I mean, it's not as clear-cut as returning a scarf you hate for store credit.
Re: It's not like she's giving me a sheep!
Date: 2008-11-24 07:53 pm (UTC)Re: It's not like she's giving me a sheep!
Date: 2008-11-24 08:02 pm (UTC)I don't feel comfortable judging whether or not an impoverished community should want/get an animal to raise and eventually eat. I choose to be vegan in my context but I don't want to make that decision for others. I think I'd be okay with this gift, though I wouldn't go out of my way to give it on my own!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-24 04:16 pm (UTC)And these animals are not all used for slaughter, many are used for milk and eggs, honey, and for wool, etc. I'm assuming you are a vegan? From what I know, this is a well-run organization that truly is helping subsistence farmers be independent and healthy, it's not about raising incredible numbers of animals for slaughter/profit.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-24 06:55 pm (UTC)These animals are ultimately for slaughter, even if they give milk and eggs—particularly in the third world. Think about it.
Oh, and lastly, dairy causes health problems, particularly in non-white people; I thought you knew that?
Perhaps the gift will be used to plant trees.
Date: 2008-11-24 08:04 pm (UTC)I'm not saying anything about your beliefs, because I don't know much about you. I'm actually a bit sympathetic, because I can imagine if someone gave a gift in my name to, say, the NRA, I would be appalled. It's a bit presumptuous to do that for business associates, because you don't know if you're offending someone.
Yes, I know that people also eat their animals as well as use their "gifts," but giving an animal to a third world family is more about enabling them to survive in this world without having to be a slave than it is about serving my or your world view. I'm not terribly knowledgeable about this, but I would wonder if people living in the third world can afford to be vegan. How can we who can choose veganism begrudge those who can't the things they need to survive, especially in a small community setting?
I thought you knew that?
Um, I don't know what you know... how do you know what I know??
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-24 08:04 pm (UTC)Now I'm wondering...
Date: 2008-11-25 01:36 am (UTC)So isn't veganism just a luxury, considering that it's so rare for humans to be vegan? Even Ted Danson puts his stamp of approval on Heifer International.
Re: Now I'm wondering...
Date: 2008-11-25 02:55 am (UTC)As we became "civilized," one of the first things we humans did was invent agriculture. Bread was the great life-saver. But, through the ages, most of us ate meat and certainly milk and eggs, etc when they were available. Because this meat-eating wasn't dictated to us back thousands of years ago like it might be now by our present-day society, I believe this was our natural way. The choice of vegetarianism and veganism goes against nature for most of us, but is not a negative thing to my thinking. But it is a choice. And a choice of someone with many options to select from.
A vegan farm? With just kitties and doggies running around free, no cows, chickens? No horses used to plow, no bees to make honey? I guess you could plant seeds with machines, harvest them with machines and human labor. Have grains, nut and fruit trees, fields of corn and vegetables. But it would probably take much more work in the US, and might be marginalized out of existence by the big corporation farms.
I'd like to think we could support vegan farming. But, yes, in a poor country where people have to fit for themselves, it is natural and necessary, I'd argue, for people to eat and use the gifts of animals.
Re: Now I'm wondering...
Date: 2008-11-25 02:29 pm (UTC)We’re not wild animals, and we can survive being vegan, so we should stay vegan.
I don’t consider it a luxury- the diet of most impoverished countries are largely vegan (I remember reading Wangari Mathai’s autobio, and she mentioned how the only meat her family would ever eat was chicken, but her mother never wanted to (they had to cook chicken when she wasn’t at home, because her mom did not want animals killed for food). & if you look at their health (before other social forces stepped in to mess with the food supply), they’re really healthy off a largely plant based diets. & considering in most 3rd world countries, meat is the luxury item in their diet…