Laura Paquette - Taking Life through food

In class today, Dr. Redick explained how he reflects upon eating as the sacrifice of the life of the being to provide nutrition for himself. In this way, he honors and respects the nature of the being (be it plant or animal) so as to enter into a liminal space with the eaten. At first thought, this seemed a bit silly to me. How am I supposed to honor something that cannot reason nor recognize the honor given to it? Yet, as I thought about it more, I realized that this was more than paying tribute to a fish. It was about being thankful and understanding that all living things have a reason to exist, demanding that they be respected in such a manner. To reiterate, things, particularly that which we consume, do not come from nothing. Someone has spent time growing and caring for that plant or animal so that you, the consumer, can gain energy and use it for good. If we become lazy in our respects, who's to say that we soon won't recognize the larger things that humans do for one another? In reflecting on even the smallest living things and how they benefit and provide a fundamental necessity for humans, we can recognize the small things humans do and become thankful. And what will be born out of this is an acknowledgment of the importance of what we use turning into a preservation of nature because all these things are born out of nature.