A bug's life

While journaling this morning, a huge moth came flying out from under the table and nearly knocked me in the face. Spring has sprung here up in the mountains. The bugs are finding new life. And vegan-me is working through what it means to live with compassionate care for ALL of God's creatures, including those "non-sentient" (aka "not able to feel or emotionally respond ") creatures, like moths and the summer dread up here at camp, mosquitoes.

Vegan values embrace compassionate care for all life, which means honoring all that God has made, including insects, bugs, and rodents. While it is easy to care for "sentient creatures" like cows and dogs, it often becomes a stretch to see the rationale in respecting those creatures that don't have emotional capacity, which are simply annoyances. For me, it is an issue of integrity, which is an important value in my life. Thus, I maintain true to my commitment to compassionate care for all of creation, respecting the life of the "non-sentient", and tolerating those pesky bugs that emerge as the spring warms into summer.

As Joanne Stepaniak writes, "For vegans, the issue isn't finding a reason not to kill but learning what it means to honor life." (Being Vegan, p. 31)

Luckily last summer (my first vegan summer), mosquitoes were not a problem, but it is still an exercise in restraint, not squashing one that has landed, ready to bite. I shake and blow instead, and it seems to work for me. And with bees during barbecues at the picnic area, I simply do not bother them and they do not bother me.

Inside, I am learning "compassionate bug capture" for those moths that get in and fruit flies that like my produce. I have a clear plastic cup, which I use to enclose them when they land on a wall or window. I then slip a piece of paper underneath to escort my "new friends" from my home to theirs, out the front door so they can fly and be free, and no longer bother me! Spiders I've learned to ignore, and luckily, I've not had to face ant swarms or rodent invasions in my place. If I do, you'll probably read it on the blog as I cross that ethical vegan dilemma when the time comes.

Though creatures like that are bothersome as the weather warms, I am thankful for the beauty of butterflies that also emerge this time of year. At times there will be one or two which accompany me on a run along portion of our back trails. As I reflect on their transformation from bug to butterfly, they remind me of the many ways my life has been transformed over the years, and I am thankful for the new beauty I see in me as I run.

There are lessons to learn about the Creator from all of creation, including those pesky insects. The author of Proverbs writes: "Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise: Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer; coneys are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the crags; locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks; a lizard can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings' palaces." (Proverbs 30:24-28)

Startled by the moth earlier this morning, I followed it with my eyes as it flew around a bit before settling and landing. I quietly and slowly found my "bug capture cup" and proceeded to gently but quickly surround it, which I did. I wiggled it around to get it off the ground as the paper slipped underneath. I escorted it out, and released it. "Fly and be free."

Though not as beautiful as the butterflies on the trail, moths too are transformed. With their abundance around camp, they remind me of the transformations, which continue to occur in my life, which are not big, bold, and beautiful, but take place in the mundane decisions of everyday life around here. As I reflect on those, vegan-me is thankful. God is good, as I choose to praise the Creator, even for insects and bugs. We'll see however how thankful I am for mosquitoes this season.

Why?

It's been about a year since I officially crossed the line to vegetarianism. It's been about 10 months since I officially embraced a vegan lifestyle. Over these past few weeks, I've been considering another dietary transition as I have been reading about and trying out aspects of a "raw vegan diet".

What was initially "Raw Mondays" began turning into "Raw Other Days" as I found myself enjoying the experience, struggling at times, but finding it very intriguing to consider what "raw foodism" is all about.

While I've not made any "official" transitions, all this is causing me to ask myself again, "WHY?" Why do I do what I do? Why do I choose certain foods, a certain lifestyle, certain values?

With Earth Day coming up on Tuesday, April 22nd, I was asked to speak to a church congregation today about environmental issues. My intention was to have them each consider "WHY" they do what they do when it comes to the world God has created.

Using St. Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Creatures, I shared the one word I believe to be the theological foundation of Franciscan Creation Theology = "fraternitas". Because God is our Creator, the Source of all, our Father, Mother, Parent, we are in essence related to all else that God has made, one family living together in the one home we call earth.

I believe our brotherhood/sisterhood (our fraternitas) with all of creation should be the framework for our choices. In looking at Sister Water, Eric Doyle, a Franciscan theologian in his book, The Song of Brotherhood and Sisterhood writes: "Water is a creature like (ourselves). As a creature, water is our sister, and it is hardly normal to pour toxic acid into your sister!" (p. 56). How we treat members in our biological family as we consider their needs is how we are to treat members in our "cosmic family".

Why do I make some of the choices I do in terms of my diet and lifestyle? It is because of compassion, my desire to live in harmonious relationship with all my brothers and sisters, human and non-human, everything that finds life in the same God who gives life to me, too.

When it comes to a raw vegan diet, I know that 100% raw will not work for me. Compassion is too great a value in my life. While I have compassion for animals and the natural world, I also want to live in compassion with my human brothers and sisters. I do not want my dietary decisions of ahimsa to offend someone who has gone out of their way to serve me. Thus, I make dietary exceptions. I guess I'm really a vegan, a "compassionate % of the time". Though it is not often I will stray at this juncture, I do not allow legalism of a dietary decision to keep me from caring for another.

I am encouraged because I see that in Francis of Assisi. The story is told that while on a strict diet, Francis saw one of his brothers who was very sick and needed food but refused to eat because he wanted to show how holy he really was. Francis, out of compassion, took grapes and ate them first, breaking his dietary holiness to encourage his brother to eat. Compassion.

Earth Day is on Tuesday. It is a good time, I believe, for each of us to consider again why we do what do, why we make the choices we make each day. I pray that compassion for the earth, compassion for all your brother and sisters in the cosmic family will become the foundation of daily decisions for you.