Children Don’t Need Vegans To Tell Them Anything

Closeup Image of Butterflies in Paint from Bringing Forth the Fruits of Righteousness from Darkness.

Butterflies are in real trouble- habitat loss, pollution, and climate change have killed off hundreds of species of butterflies to extinction.  They play an important role in the ecosystem as pollinators or as food for other animals.  In other words, we need them.

RELATED READING:
5 Butterfly Species Just Vanished While No One Was Looking
More than 100 Butterfly Species Extinct
Butterflies Not Coping With Climate Change & Habitat Loss

Killing animals for “art” is certainly not a new concept.  In fact, it’s something that I wrote about in 2009 for True/Slant and again in 2011 with this article, Killing Animals for Art.  At that time I discussed how the US Supreme Court struck down, on First Amendment grounds, a federal statute (18 U.S.C. § 48 ) that criminalized the commercial sale, dissemination, and possession of depictions of animal cruelty, as well as of acts showing the wounding or killing of animals.  Meaning, killing animals for art is protected under our First Amendment rights.

I visit the museum frequently, and when I do, I make it a point to stand in front of the exhibit for a long time.  Standing there you can overhear reactions from people as they realize what the artwork is made from.  Reactions range from awe (butterflies are beautiful even in their unnecessary and unjustified deaths) to shock and disgust.  It’s the latter that resonates most closely with my own feelings.

I stood in front of the exhibit on my last visit and watched a young girl, around six or seven years old, and three adults (two male and one female) approach.  The girl was excited to look at the colors, the adults were excited to share what they knew about the artwork.  One of the men bent down to the girl’s level and asked her if she knew what the “painting” was made from.  The little girl guessed several times (fairy paint was one of the answers, which seriously, cuteness) and was wrong each time.  Excitedly the man said, “No! Butterflies! Can you believe it?! Look at the wings!”

The little girl immediately got upset and raised her voice, “Butterflies? Like the ones outside? But dead?! Why are they all dead? I don’t like them dead!”

Each of the adults took turns trying to explain why it was okay that the butterflies were dead, each time the girl got more upset. The adults ended it by taking the little girl to a different exhibit to take her mind off of the pretty, dead butterflies.

Ruby Roth, author of several children’s books, received mainstream media backlash about her vegan-centric books because “children are too impressionable, vegan information is too sensitive of a topic for them, and it could lure them into eating vegan.”  Which is simply not true.  Children are amazing.  They don’t need a vegan to tell them that killing is wrong, they already know.  Listen to them, they’ll tell you.

PS.

If teaching a child compassion for life leads them to eating vegan, then I say good for them.  Done properly, they will enjoy good health.  Not to mention that the food is as delicious as it is kind.  And, veganism is good for the environment (earth), which is good for us, you know- since we live on earth.  Plus, it is good for the animals- they more than anyone want a vegan world.  That’s good for us too since we need animals to do things like pollinate our crops, replant seeds from one area to the next, maintain natural wildlife populations, and eat dead and decaying waste (dung anyone?) just to name a few.  Wait, what was the problem again?. . .

Photos courtesy of Cleveland Museum of Art