Universal Rules from Sherlock Holmes

We as humans are always searching for the 'universal', the rules that apply to everything. The simple things that connect us all. Along those lines, I had an interesting conversation with Josh earlier this week. We were watching the newest Sherlock Holmes at the scene where tanks and machine guns are rolling through a wooded area. Me- Josh, what do you think about war? ... Josh- Well, nobody has the right to hurt other people, so it's bad. M- What about destroying people's things? J- Nobody has the right to destroy other people's property either. So that's wrong too. *tree explodes on the screen* M- What about the trees? J- Well if they are on someone else's land, they are their property. So no one else has the right to destroy them. M- Trees are alive, right? J- Yes. M- Do they have the right to their own lives the same way we do? Can anyone justly "own" a tree? J- Hmmmmm. Well I guess everything that's alive should own themselves. M- Animals too? J- Well yeah. M- What about the animals we eat? Or animals kept as pets? Is that alright, if we applied the ideas of liberty to them as well? J- Well.....no. We shouldn't kill anything then. M- How would we eat if we didn't kill anything? In order for us to stay alive we have to eat things that are or were alive. J- Do we kill plants when we eat them? If we eat an apple it doesn't kill the whole tree. M- That's true. We could eat fruits, nuts and berries, but when we eat things like carrots we eat the whole plant. The carrot is the root, and the leaves can't live without the root. J- Hmmm. Okay Mom, I want to watch the movie now. We don't eat vegan, and I wasn't trying to lead him to that line of thinking, but it is important to always stretch our ways of thinking. Lots of new perspectives for us to think about here. *Side note- Later we wondered just how much we could eat if we ate only fruit, and found the definition of a fruit is anything which grows from the flower of a plant. In case you were curious too.See More