It has been brought to my attention that I appear to contradict myself (horrors!). In one blog I state the maxim that one should eat whatever one is served when one is a guest. In the other I say that I usually carefully pick out the curdled blood when it is in my noodles or soup or whatever.
Well, in the latter case I had in mind in a restaurant. When one is paying for the meal one is not a guest. That said it is not good to make an issue of such things anywhere.
But really the criticism of this contradiction misses the point that I think is a thread throughout this blog -- that rules or laws or maxims of an ethical nature are guides, but we must always be willing to abandon them if it leads to our doing something wrong.
This takes judgment and compassion, and for the most part the feelings of our host are paramount. When it comes to something clearly unhealthy (as opposed to meat which is plainly not unhealthy as so many thrive with it in their diets), one would still not say anything and try to be surreptitious. At least that is where I come down on this. I must say that I would rather eat the blood than hurt my host, and I think this is where I come down, although of course others may think otherwise.
It is OK to avoid things for no reason other than that you find them repulsive. One often should try to get over and control one's revulsions, but if something makes one unhappy, then by all means avoid it. It's just that in the end we are better off not having to avoid things.
My main point though is that if one is a vegetarian one need to not let this be known. It is praying in public and people don't like it and are often offended.
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