Yes, to live is to consume. After spending half a year toiling day and night in my garden, come harvest time there is a pinge of reluctance at having to remove all those lovely plants I worked so hard to care for. I could even go so far as to say that it inspires the same sort of reverence as what I have for harvesting wild game, or going to my cousin's house to help kill the steer I helped feed and care for.

Those who respect life have the sort of ethics that preclude them from wasting such a commodity, be it the zucchini they just picked, or the duck they just blasted outta the sky. Taking that prize pumpkin to the fair for that blue ribbon is akin to taking that cape and head to the taxidermist for me. That pumpkin may win the prize, but at the end of the day, it will get eaten, same as the deer I shot and the cow I thumped.