Where's the Beef?

No, it's not what you thought! This post is about vegetarianism. Kinda sneaky, huh? Well I don't want to preach, and I certainly don't intend to make meat lovers swear off their dead delights, just want to give you a little food for thought. You like that? In a video for mercyforanimals.org, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, says that due to his practice of vegetarianism, he hasn't been sick for five years! The rationale behind vegetarianism is fourfold:1) The animal for food industry inflicts untold suffering on the animals that end up on your table and in your systems, by cutting your consumption by just 50%, you can spare hundreds of animals from a lifetime of suffering; 2) for those of us who believe, like the Buddhists, that we reincarnate into numerous lifetimes, causing the suffering of others, yes, even animals, creates negative karma, i.e., as you sow, so shall you reap (or in simpler terms, what goes around comes around); 3) Many illnesses that people are plagued by, don't "haunt" the lives of the vegetarian (many maladies that befall black folks, such as high blood pressure, hypertension, etc. would virtually disappear); 4) Wise men throughout the ages have extolled the virtues of a meatless diet. For example: Daniel the Hebrew prophet during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, and Greek philosophers Pythagoras and Porphyry, who wrote a book promoting vegetarianism entitled "On Abstinence from Animal Food." This post should put a little more fat between your ears, as opposed to around your waist. Peace!