I recently read a really interesting book called The Ethical Assassin. I'll spare you the book review, and get right to the heart of what really interested me. By the way, this book was a little too old for me to review in Java. That's unfortunate, because I'd like to expose more people to this book.

Okay, let's get down to it: The protagonist is a college student. He somehow gets mixed in with this assassin who is, of all things, a vegan. He explains to our young college student that he doesn't dig on products of the flesh because 1) of the environmental damage caused by big box farms, and 2) that animals die as a result. I won't get into the contradiction of saving animals by killing humans. I'd like to ruminate about his reasons for being vegan.

1) I can agree with this. I don't believe in unneeded cruelty, and the conditions you'll find on the commercial farms and ranches are appalling. However ... there are the free-range and line-caught options (for the fish lovers like me). For me, that negates this argument. You may feel differently. But we're not all wired the same.

2) Animals definitely die because we eat them, whether it's a cow that lives the Kobe life of luxury before becoming a burger, a wild elk felled by a hunter or a beakless chicken in a poultry farm outside of Akron. To be honest, I have no qualms with this. It is impossible for any creature to sustain itself without harming something else that's alive.

I'm not saying I have all the answers for everyone on this, or even that I do it right every time (I'd have a hard time dining out if I did). But I do the best I can, especially when I'm throwing it on the grill.