Tolerance and Vegetarianism

I’ve been thinking about tolerance and of a situation that occurred long ago. I’ve previously said that although I don’t mind vegetarians who don’t eat meat simply because they don’t like it, I can’t abide people who don’t eat meat because they think it’s cruel to animals, because I don’t consider animals to have souls. And I like bacon. However this view was put to the test one summer’s day last year. I was on a photography class field trip to London to see some galleries. We stopped in Leicester Square to get a bite to eat. Everyone else sped off to find the nearest McDonalds, but I wanted pizza, so I went to the same restaurant that the photography staff went to. I’ve always said that the photography department is the best of all the art departments because of the staff. They, unlike the other art departments, have genuine artistic senses, rather than just a coldly academic interest. Because they understand art, they went for a niche subject that they liked rather than going for the obvious fields of painting and sculpture. Plus when it came to us sixth formers, they were less like teachers and more like friends. You can have a laugh with those guys. Anyway I like them. As I ate a delicious example of pepperoni pizza, I found out that one of the teachers was a vegetarian. I asked her if she simply did not like meat. She replied that she disagreed with the ethics behind eating animals. I looked guiltily down at the meat studded pizza slice I was eating. ‘Oh, sorry’ I said. She smiled and said that she didn’t mind, and that she wasn’t going to impose her views on me. I smiled back and continued to stuff my face with Italy’s finest. It’s pointed out to me that we learn tolerance for irksome qualities whenever someone we have previously grown to like reveals they have these qualities. Nobody is perfect. I was not about to spit poison at this woman who I like, in front of her colleagues who I also like, just because she holds views I find illogical. Besides I could be wrong myself. Perhaps animals do have sentience enough to be worthy of me giving a damn about whether or not they are eaten alongside lettuce and tomato in-between two slices of bread. I think we too often forget that tolerance does not mean agreeing with everybody. It means an ability to be civil and accommodating towards people even though they may hold beliefs that we do not agree with.