From The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith:
In his book Long Life, Honey in the Heart, Martin Pretchel writes of the Mayan people and their concept of kas-limaal, which translates roughly as “mutual indebtedness, mutual insparkedness.” “The knowledge that every animal, plant, person, wind, and season is indebted to the fruit of everything else is an adult knowledge. To get out of debt means you don’t want to be a part of life, and you don’t want to grow into an adult,” one of the elders explains to Pretchel.
The only way out of the vegetarian myth is through the pursuit of kas-limaal, of adult knowledge. This is a concept we need, especially those of us who are impassioned by injustice. I know I needed it. In the narrative of my life, the first bite of meat after my twenty year hiatus marks the end of my youth, the moment when I assumed the responsibilities of adulthood. It was the moment I stopped fighting the basic algebra of embodiment: for someone to leave, someone else has to die. In that acceptance, with all its suffering and sorrow, is the ability to choose a different way, a better way.
So…vegetarians and vegans are naive and childish. Right. I don’t think I’ll be continuing to read this.
He’s essentially saying, “Give up on what you believe in. When you’re old, you realize you can’t make a difference.”
A load of crap, of course.
I read this book because it’s gotten so much attention from the vegan community — mainly in the form of anger and outrage. So, for the sake up being up front: I am a vegan. And I did read the book, with as open a mind as possible. My own coming to veganism is even related to Keith’s experience, either. I do not have an eating disorder, nor do I have a rigid or sociopathic, angry personality. Iam particularly horrified by Keith’s assertion that vegans are naive when it comes to matters of life and death.