BURNING FLESH

I had minor surgery recently. It involved a laser, which was kinda cool.

DR. LIM: Ok, don't be bothered about the smell. That's just the laser frying the keratin.
CHRIS: Ok. No biggie.

The doctor had muzak versions of Guantanamera and other lite stuff playing throughout the operation. He said it was for his benefit, not mine. It helped him relax. I was thoroughly anesthetized and feeling no pain. Dr Lim said that the burning smell was - for most people - the worst part of the operation.

I didn't mind it. I was lying on my chest, thinking of Caribbean beaches and enjoying the effects of the anesthetic.

The odor was very subtle and I initially didn't concentrate too much on it. But after a while, it became stronger. Lying there, under the knife, the smell of my burning flesh became my primary focus. It was familiar, but I couldn't quite identify where I had smelled it before. I started trying to recall what it reminded me of.

After about five minutes I thought... “barbecue.”

Then, I became a bit uncomfortable with the fact that I smelled tasty.

I've been a vegetarian for about ten years now although not in a hardcore way. I still eat fish, and can regularly be found grilling a swordfish or tuna steak. However, the smell of grilled meat is still wonderful. I've known a few ex-smokers who love the smell of cigars or cigarettes - scents that most smokers actually find unpleasant. They would actually actually go to smoking sections just to inhale the fumes. I'm similarly drawn to barbecues.

I became vegetarian mostly because I moved in with Lisa, who remains more doctrinary than I in her her resistance to meat. There were also some political considerations at the time, particularly environmental ones. While most of these still hold true, I no longer believe in most of the hype about scarcity or pollution. Now, I basically shun the eating of mammals because I don't like killing intelligent life forms.

I explained this to a colleague a few months back. He was curious about why I had become a vegetarian and was asking a few questions. After I explained it, he was a bit unsure if my rationale was completely sound:

COLLEAGUE: You don't eat meat because you don't like killing intelligent life forms?

CHRIS: That's basically it.

COLLEAGUE: But you support the war – there are a lot of intelligent life forms being killed by that.

CHRIS: Yes, but that's justified.

COLLEAGUE: How can you say the killing of people is justified when you don't approve of killing animals?

CHRIS: Well, I generally disapprove of killing people too. But if its defensive I have no problems with it.

COLLEAGUE: Ok, fair enough.

CHRIS: Actually I have no problems with killing animals if it's in self defense. If a herd of Taliban cattle made a willful choice to wage war against Western civilization I would have no qualms about someone dropping a few cluster bombs on them.

COLLEAGUE: Err... okay.

CHRIS: But that still doesn't mean I'd want to eat them.