Responding to a post about Matt’s paintings adorning the walls of a new steakhouse in Chicago, a reader asks Matt his thoughts about animal rights—and in particular, the consumption of steak when there are other sources of protein available for human consumption which do not require the slaughtering of cows.

Matt responds:

I am an animal lover.

I had dogs all through my childhood:  Great Danes, who were all very loving and had great character.  If you want to be absolutely certain that you are loved by something in this universe, buy a dog.  They will greet you as if you were gone forever, even if you’re a stupid old son-of-a-bitch!

When it comes to our culture of what we eat and what we do, it reminds me of the president of a country in Africa.  He has five wives.  A Western reporter interviewed him and asked, “Mr. President, how do you defend having five wives?”

He answered, “I come from a tribe in which, for thousands of years, that was the norm.  And if you are going to ask me why I have five wives, I can ask you:  Why do you have only one wife?  There are many different ways of looking at life.  Our culture was to have a number of wives, and I would not be true to my culture if I pretended I only had one, to make the West happy.  I’m not going to argue culture, because it evolves over hundreds if not thousands of years.”

I, Matt Lamb, have been married to the same woman for 55 years.  I can defend that, but I wouldn’t want to argue with this African gentleman’s culture.  I suppose you could make it my argument if you introduced Western culture, Christianity, the home base, as it is in a complex society.

I believe it’s the same argument about what we eat.  The Jewish faith bans many things.  As a Catholic, I was told for years that I couldn’t eat meat on Fridays, then it became all right to eat meat on Fridays.

Cultures change, perceptions change...

I was in a rural area in Europe where I visited a person’s home in a small town, and he kept geese.  There were about 25 marvelous big, white geese that followed him around like a dog would follow around his master.  My wife, Rose, and I were having tea with his wife, and we asked her, “What do you do with these?”

She cried and said, “We slaughter them and eat them.”

I wondered how she could eat these wonderful animals that follow them around all day.

I suppose it’s in their culture to do it, but her tears were suggesting that she didn’t like it.

In reality, it was none of my business—I was just there to experience the town and its culture.

The other reality is that the only person I have control over in the universe—and not much control at that—is me.  As a recovered alcoholic, I was probably out of control for a long time, but I didn’t know it.

The human species is a very complex, idiosyncratic entity.  We have free will, we are all unique, and I believe we all come from the same source.

I believe when God made us, he or she gave us free will.  If there’s anything that God thinks back and asks, “Should I have done that,” I think that—the issue of free will—should be one of the burning questions of all time.

Matt