The modern tradition of bringing a cut tree into the house (which began in the 16th century) is a perversion of a much older and more benign multicultural tradition of celebrating nature (or God/gods) by decorating living trees and/or bringing pieces of greenery (small cuttings which do not harm the tree) into the house (ancient Egyptians, Romans and, most notably, Druids).
Wanton killing for vanity’s sake is abhorrent, even if it’s only a tree. I’m a vegetarian and I can understand killing animals for food, but to kill simply to possess (for antlers, christmas trees or other decorative objects) is incredibly selfish. I wish people could connect a little more to the underlying life force and then they would have a little more compassion and that would change a lot of things for the better.
Oh, come on! :p
Wasteful — yes. However, these days it is also popular to buy trees in bags that you then plant, or smaller, useful objects like rosemary trees.
But to go as far as saying that it’s abhorrent to kill a tree is ridiculous! So, you don’t use herbs in your food? Have any furniture that is made of it? (You might argue this is a necessary use, but you can buy things wood-free. Give/receive flowers? Pull a weed?
I think you drank too many martinis yesterday!
What I said was that killing purely for vanity’s sake is abhorrent and I stand by that. Killing a living creature just to “have” it (a tree, flowers, an animal) is completely selfish and an egregious waste. Killing living things for sustenance (food) or raw materials/utility (furniture, etc.) is not necessarily bad and it’s certainly not so excessively wasteful.
Have you ever owned an herb plant? It’s not required to kill the plant to eat a few leaves from it; it’s not like, say, cutting down an 10 foot tree and putting it in your living room for a few weeks and then tossing it out in the trash.
I have no objections to plants with roots that are intended to be kept (indoors or outdoors).
p.s. I don’t pull “weeds” (which are only “uncute” plants) nor give/receive dying flowers.