The mother looked at her daughter sternly: “So you want to tell me that I have been struggling for hours at the stove and then you come along and don’t eat that? Is that your way of showing me your respect? „
„And what about your respect for life?“, Said Liv, „If I had known that beforehand, I would have stopped long ago. Then you wouldn’t have had to cook for me either. „
„As long as I cook, you also eat what I think is good,“ said the mother gruffly, „after all, I know what is good for you. Humans need meat to survive. It’s been like that forever. Otherwise you will get sick. Just look at them, all those consumptive, malnourished vegetarians. The vegans are even worse. They don’t eat anything anymore. And besides, the animals are there for us to eat them. We bred them for it and without us they wouldn’t live at all. And what do you think where the human being has his big brain from? From the meat. So don’t send faxes like this, come eat. Maybe we can grill the pig soon.” With that she turned and went back into the kitchen.

Liv was left alone. Her decision to stop eating meat was an impulse that could be explained by what she had experienced. She hadn’t thought of the consequences for a moment. And if her mother said she had to eat meat to keep her from getting sick, then that had to be true. Because if it wasn’t true … But no, her mother would never lie to her. Or maybe she didn’t know any better either? Liv was completely confused. It was true, everyone she knew ate meat. She got it in kindergarten and school. Small children would not be given anything to eat that would not be good for them. What was right and what was wrong? Then her gaze fell on the little baby who was still sleeping in her arms and she knew intuitively that it was right to let it live. But it was just that feeling. Could she trust that? Didn’t it make sense that humans had always eaten meat? Wasn’t it also obvious that we wouldn’t do anything, in general, that would harm us? Would one otherwise be allowed to propagate meat eating if it were not right? Wouldn’t that mean we’re being lied to on all sides? The girl who saved the piglet felt miserable, alone and abandoned. She couldn’t get a clear thought, except that this creature could live in her hands for as long as it was possible and would not end up on a spit. It would live. But how should she explain that? Then she became aware that she would do something that no one else did of the people she knew. This would exclude itself from the community. She already saw the reproachful looks and the shaken heads before her. The more understanding among them might say, “Oh, leave them alone. It’s just a phase, it grows out again. „
„Look, how tasty,“ less considerate people would think, waving the meat in front of their faces, „Admit that you don’t want to miss something good.“
“Well, my parents would not have tolerated such airs”, those with the pedagogically valuable thoughts would say, “Anneliese, I would recommend you to stop something like this immediately. Who knows what will come up with her next.” Anneliese, Liv’s mother, would then react equally deeply educating and call Liv to order because she had to be ashamed of her daughter. Mother had done it wrong, of course, because if she had done it right, Liv wouldn’t even have come up with such absurd ideas. She could picture all of this very well. But then there was still little Runa. It just didn’t go together, but there was no one to help Liv. What should she do What could she do?

„Now come to dinner,“ Liv heard her mother’s voice, impatient and determined. Liv obediently sat down at the table, but the meat didn’t touch her, thinking that there must be someone out there who could help her. Just how could she find someone like that?

Go to part 4 here