Vegan Lifestyle ArticlesMy Pilgrimage: Dr. Michael Klaper
Vegan Lifestyle Articles From All-Creatures.org

Vegan lifestyle articles that discuss ways of living in peace with humans, animals, and the environment.


From The Peaceable Table
September 2013

The vegan ideal is becoming especially popular among this internet-connected generation of young people who seem to have a greater concern for the animals and the Earth than did their parents' generation. They see the societal violence and environmental degradation all around them and many know that the chance for a more peaceful and sustainable future begins with their own being and efforts, and especially with their own food choices. The vegan word is out - and spreading virally.

Michael Klaper is a practitioner of preventative and nutritional medicine. In 1972 he graduated from the University of Illinois College Of Medicine in Chicago. He served his medical internship at Vancouver General Hospital in British Columbia, Canada and undertook additional training in surgery, anesthesiology, orthopedics, and obstetrics at the University of California Hospitals in San Francisco.

After dealing with so much violence in the emergency rooms of Chicago hospitals, the Viet Nam war, and observing the effects of violence in people's daily lives in my medical practice, and after reading and hearing so many teachings of spiritual leaders about the power and truth of non-violence, I had reached a point in my life where I knew I had to make a serious effort to rid my own being of violence--my thoughts, words, and, above all, my actions. I knew I wanted to become not only a peaceful man, but a Man of Peace.

Michael Klaper vegan doctorOne evening in late 1980, while at a restaurant consuming a steak dinner, I was expounding on my desire to rid my life of violence when my dinner companion pointed out that my peaceful goals were all well and good, but if I was truly concerned about reducing the level of violence in my life that I both experienced and caused, I should begin with that piece of meat on my plate. He clearly stated that it was my desire for the taste of flesh in my mouth that directly caused the death of an innocent animal-- and, indeed, my money actually paid the slaughterer for his killing. As much as I did not want to face that fact, I heard a small voice within me saying, "You know, he's right." And that started my serious journey toward becoming a vegan, beginning with the cessation of my consumption of flesh foods, and soon extending to dairy products and then to my leather wallet and belt.

Soon, the vegan principle of "ahimsa"-- especially the adage I had received in my medical training to truly "do no harm”--became the guidepost for all my subsequent decisions, words and actions. There is an old saying that "you can't keep a hat pin in a cloth bag for very long. The point will come out." I have been impressed and encouraged that the truth of the vegan ideal has increasingly found its way into modern culture, especially in the media and among the youth of our society. The media references to being vegan, once rare and usually tinged with derision, are becoming more frequent, and now more often presented with seriousness and respect.

The vegan ideal is becoming especially popular among this internet-connected generation of young people who seem to have a greater concern for the animals and the Earth than did their parents' generation. They see the societal violence and environmental degradation all around them and many know that the chance for a more peaceful and sustainable future begins with their own being and efforts, and especially with their own food choices. The vegan word is out - and spreading virally.

Since becoming a vegan, my body has assumed a leaner configuration, which makes it easier to exercise and maintain a high level of fitness and to keep me out of the clutches of doctors--like ME! Anyone with a conscience who is tempted to eat the flesh of an animal should conjure up the image I saw on a poster from the Farm Animals Rights Movement. It was the image of a beautiful, but pathetic, baby calf, chained by the neck in a veal crate, lying in [his] own manure, unable to clean him or her self, and looking back at the viewer with sad, baleful eyes. The caption under this soul-searing image read, "Are you really THAT hungry?" That image snuffs out any temptation in me to pay for the death of any animal. Every decision you make matters--including what you have for dinner--because each decision will make your world either more violent or less violent. A vegan world is a healthier, more peaceful world, and you can begin to create that world for yourself, today, by making vegan choices in your diet and your lifestyle.

Visit Dr. Klaper's webiste at www.doctorklaper.com


Reprinted from Butterflies Katz' website Veganism: A Truth Whose Time has Come, with the permission of Michael Klaper.

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