Chapter 1
Finally, after a summer spent tanning, Henry and Cherie had their first guest, who happened to be an environmental activist named Rachel Green. They were puzzled as to why someone like that wanted to see them, but they were also curious, and so they accepted her into their audience room.
�Thank you for letting me come,� Rachel said.
�You are very welcome,� Henry said.
�We are curious to why you came,� Cherie said.
�As you are probably aware of, I am an environmental activist,� Rachel said.
�Yes, we are aware of that,� Henry said.
�But we still do not know why you want to talk to us. After all, we have had no guests at all this summer to speak with us,� Cherie said.�I believe it is very important for young people to understand what older folks have closed their eyes and ears to. There is a looming environmental crisis. We are using up the resources of our planet like there is no tomorrow, and if we do not watch it, that is exactly what will happen,� Rachel said.
�Are you one of those people who chains yourself to trees to prevent spotted owls in the northwest from being killed when the trees are logged?� Henry said.
�No, I am not,� Rachel said.
�Are you one of those people who seeks to stop highway projects because of some obscure and endangered kind of snail?� Cherie asked.
�No, I am not,� Rachel said.
�Are you a vegan?� Henry queried.
�Yes, I am,� Rachel said. �That brings me to an important point.�
�And what is that?� Cherie asked.
�Do you like to eat meat?� Rachel asked.
�Of course we do,� Henry said.
�Yes, whether it is chicken or beef, and occasionally other meats as well,� Cherie said.
�Do you know how inefficient it is to eat a diet that is predominately meat?� Rachel asked.
�What are you talking about,� Henry said.
�I think a friend of ours named Daniel wrote about that in an essay once,� Cherie said.
�Daniel Miller?� Rachel asked.
�That is correct,� Cherie replied. �He is a good friend of ours from Cork.�
�Some of his reports have attracted the attention of the scientific community. He appears to be of a different political bend than I am, being a young man of moderate conservative beliefs,� Rachel said. �Still, it is no surprise that he has thought on these subjects as well.�
�I do not remember the conclusion of his musings on the subjects,� Henry said.
�For each step up the food chain, one has an inefficiency of 90%. For example, if one eats only plant matter, one must eat 10 pounds of vegetables and fruits to make one pound of useful energy. This is true whether you are a cow, a chicken, or a human. If you eat an herbivore, it takes ten pounds of animal mass to equal one pound of useful product. This means that it takes one hundred pounds of plant matter to make one pound of useful product in a carnivore. For those who exclusively eat carnivores, the ratio becomes one in a thousand,� Rachel said.
�Ah, I see, so you are saying that eating meat is profoundly inefficient,� Cherie said.
�Exactly,� Rachel said.
�Still,� Henry said. �Is it not true that it is difficult to get all of the nutrients one needs purely from plants? After all, soybean, which in most products is execrable, is the only known complete plant protein, and there are certain essential oils that are found almost exclusively in meats.�
�That is true,� Rachel said.
�It may be true that eating large amounts of meat is inefficient,� Cherie said. �And that a small amount of meat is highly beneficial. Among most peoples, eating meat is rare because it is so expensive, so even though most are not vegetarian by principle, by all practicality they are. Still, if the meat is being raised on our land, do we not have a right to eat off of the fat of our land?�
�That is part of the point I am trying to bring up,� Rachel said. �It is not merely off of the fat of our rich land that we raise our meat. If it were so I would agree with you that if we seek to limit our own population to give ourselves greater wealth, that is not a problem. However, we grow our meat on poorer lands, and starve other nations so that we might live in luxury. That which we deny to another man we hold tightly to ourselves only with great danger.�
�Everything returns to the question of justice,� Henry said.
�That is true,� Rachel said. �After all, our lives reflect our moral standards. If we seek our own and nothing more, we have the obligation to admit that honestly and stand condemned. We cannot claim the moral high ground without controlling our own desires to pillage and destroy.�
�But do not your friends do that?� Cherie said. �After all, they deny that there are unequivocal and permanent moral standards to follow, and yet they claim unalienable rights for animals and plants, which cannot protect their own rights. How can anything have rights at all unless there is a standard higher than the appeal to force? And how can there be a higher standard if there is no God, no Creator and lawgiver before whom we all stand accountable to. If there is a God, then we are responsible for obeying him, and subject to punishment for disobedience. However, if there is no God, then there is really nothing beyond our own selfish interest, and any attempt to say otherwise is folly of the highest order.�
�You speak like an intellectual,� Henry said.
�I guess I am in the mood for scholarly discussion,� Cherie said. �I am not as well read in matters of philosophy as other people are, but like the hedgehog I know one thing, but it is an important thing. I agree that it is wrong to wantonly destroy nature, because we are supposed to be stewards of the earth, with a fiduciary concern to God�s creation. However, nature indeed deserves no protection other than for the egotistical desire to see it unspoiled if there is no higher standard of morality besides our own desires.�
�You almost convince me to become a Christian,� Rachel said. �Perhaps there is something in the precepts of the Way that have become obscured by the hypocrisy of its adherents.�
�Go seek a hearing with my brother-in-law,� Cherie said.
�Who is he?� Rachel asked.
�Natonito et Bravia Albright,� Henry said. �The Directrix.�
�He will hear me out?� Rachel asked. �I have heard about his infamous temper.�
�If you speak wisely he will engage in witty repartee with you, and will treat you politely. If you insult him, though, he will transfix you on a wall with a dagger,� Henry said. �That said, I think you have nothing to fear.�
�I will think on this,� Rachel said. �If he will give me a public hearing perhaps we can save the planet yet.�
�Good luck,� Cherie said. �I want little Oen to grow up in a world that is at least as good as what we have now, and hopefully a better one.�
�That is what I want for future generations as well,� Rachel said. �We will be hated by all if it is our mistakes that lead to the suffering of the countless multitudes who will follow after us, seeking with their all what we held so cheaply.� She walked out of the room.
�You really surprised me,� Henry said.
�How did I do that?� Cherie said.
�You must have been using your summer to read up on matters of political science and philosophy,� Henry said.
�Well, one has to do something,� Cherie said. �While most of the books were dull at first, they have proven to be much more interesting now.�
�That is good to hear,� Henry said. �My folks made me take some books off of their hands.�
�Well, let knowledge flow to the young so that it may grow with loving care into wisdom,� Cherie said, smiling.
�You�re still the innocent and sweet girl I married,� Henry said. �But you are much more scholarly than I ever gave you credit for.�
�When one has to use one�s brain regularly, one becomes more adept at it,� Cherie said. �I always want to be bright enough to think for myself. No one else has the right to think for me.�
�I agree,� Henry said. �We should always be wise enough to think for ourselves, otherwise we are mere sheep.�
�We should be sheep for our loving shepherd in heaven, but we must be wise enough to resist the allure of those who would have us trade our freedom for the illusory security of slavery. We cannot give up our birthright for red soup,� Cherie said.
�I have some good material to write about myself,� Henry said.
�What are you going to write?� Cherie asked.
�I am going to write a paper about the consequences of belief and denial of a higher power,� Henry said.
�That sounds like a good plan,� Cherie said. �Maybe I could help.�
�Sure, the family that pens monographs together stays together,� Henry said.
�I thought it was the family that prays together stays together,� Cherie said with a wink.
�That too,� Henry said.
[ Till Death Do Us Part, Part II, Chapter 6 ] [ Chapter 2 ]
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