The Cost of Life Is Death
Life is the most precious commodity, and the cost is always death.
No matter what, no one gets out of here alive.
Every life takes from other life.
Life itself cannot exist without death.
If you are alive, you are inevitably taking from what Mother Earth has provided for you via other beings.
Every creature that ever existed has contributed to other lives in some way; either taking or giving, or both.
The sooner we accept this, the more quickly we can augment our behavior to becoming more humane creatures, because that is what we are capable of.
Since death is the ultimate toll (and of course there are other fees along the way), we can become more present with the value of life, and stop causing intentional harm and senseless destruction.
We can choose to end torturous activities against animals, like captivity for entertainment purposes, and factory farming.
The vantage point humans have over other animals is that we have this conscious awareness of our behaviors and their repercussions...which means we are capable of changing in order to reduce the harms we impose on others.
That being said, we cannot ignore the sheer fact that everything is part of the web of life, and therefore any life that exists MUST take from others.
Death is a big part of this cycle. We are all affected by it, we all cause it, we all try to avoid it to varying degrees, and yet it still comes for us in the end. And we can learn to be gracious to this, and respect death, in order to make living just as meaningful.
The most seemingly virtuous people are not fully informed, which I learned along my journey of living 'plant-based' for 15 years. It's becoming a bit disheartening that vegan and climate activists still cannot think this all the way through. They blame the cycles of life and those of us seeking to make the earth regenerative - as it should and could be - rather than (or perhaps just in addition to) the unethical practices of corporations and government regulatory agencies. But in doing so, they are creating battles amongst us, the consumers who actually do care, which draws so much energy away from resolving the actual atrocities.
Instead of seeking common ground, and respecting that the idea of life without death is a delusion, they want to shame people who are just seeking to continue existing well as "the problem".
They use phrases like 'corpses' and 'murder' and 'taste pleasure' in reference to eating meat, without considering the compassionate, nature-loving practices of people who ultimately do want the same thing: an end to ruthless suffering.
And as much as they advocate for ending cruelty, they seem to not value human life because of its inherent need to take...even though they are human as well!
As someone who does not like to kill anything, I have had to surrender to the fact that there is no life without death. Although I am still learning to navigate reality, I have gained significant admiration for the precious value of all of life, and simply try to do my part in mitigating harm. That's all I can do.
I've realized that the only way i can justify being alive is not through an illusion of perfectly never killing any thing, but rather, taking the kindest care of my self and environment, and just encouraging others to do the same.