Tsunami, as all of you know, devastated many lives, young and old. Imagine that a huge and ugly wave is coming at you. Panic strikes. You start to run for your life. Separated from your loved ones, there is absolutely no time to look for them. The giant wave is trying to drag you into the sea. Only thought that comes to mind is to get away to safety. Finally with all the effort, you reach high ground where the waves cannot get you. Breathing a sigh of relief, thoughts start coming back very fast. Where are the others? Everybody is gone! Why me? What have I done to deserve this? You bump into a friend who also has a similar story to tell.

Now flip the coin, my dear friends, the Human Tsunami is devastating many lives in the sea every day. Imagine you are at sea and the huge and ugly fishing net is coming at you. Trying to escape from the evil net, the only option is to swim away as fast as you can. Panic strikes. The giant net is trying to drag you out of the sea and without water no way to live. Swimming for your life, there is absolutely no time to look for your loved ones. However, life is kind this time and decides to spare you. What about the others. They are all gone! What crime have you done to deserve this? What right do the humans have to take these lives? This is not only the story of sushi, but also your everyday meal.

For your delicious lunch tomorrow, you are craving for a nice, juicy meal of pork. Softer the meat, the better it tastes and feels. How do you make the meat soft? While the pig is still alive, the butcher beats its body with a pole. The more he beats the body, the softer the skin and the meat becomes. Mind you, the pig is still alive while all this beating goes on. How soft do you want your next meal to be?

An unborn baby is the treasure of a potential mother. She tries to protect the baby at any cost and the slightest threat makes her panic and worry. What would happen if somebody tries to steal the unborn baby away from her? Everyday all of you crave for lovely deserts, cakes and doughnuts. Millions of eggs are being taken away forcefully from the potential mothers. They are used to produce such lovely food for humans to enjoy. One might argue that the farm eggs are not fertile. But aren’t the humans forcing the eggs not to be fertile? When you are eating a lovely piece of cake, do you inquire the type of egg? Are you going to check if the egg was fertile or not? Do you care?

A man is about to be hung? His eyes are full of fear and the face has a look of lost hope. He knows that the death is near and his whole body shows it. Have you gone to a slaughter house and seen the animals who are about to be killed? Their eyes are full of fear and they refuse to move from where they are. They know that the death is imminent and fear grips their whole body. Would you like to be in their shoes?

Many people say that the animals are not being killed specially for them. Do you agree that animal slaughter happens as part of a chain of actions? If you do not eat meat, you will not buy from the meat shop. If the meat shop has no sales, would they buy from the butchery? If the butchery cannot sell the meat they produce, would they kill these animals? All of you who eat meat are part of this chain. If the first trigger of eating meat is stopped, the whole chain breaks down. Do you want to spare these innocent animals?
Some argue that if we do not kill animals for food, their numbers will grow and the world will be taken over by them. I just ask them to go and visit China or India. The population is overflowing with more than a billion people in each country (no disrespect to the countries mentioned here please). Would they take over the world? If so, should these excess people be killed for food? Of course not. However, isn’t that the same logic used against animals?

Hence, my friends (who are at the other side of the table), the next time when you are about to consume a sumptuous meal, I urge all of you to think before you eat.