So I've decided I'm going to be a vegetarian, and ease my way into vegan-dom. Q watched a PETA DVD we got at the Alkaline show, and I went in for a little bit of it, and saw some pretty horrible things. Things that made me cry. I'm not very tolerant of animal cruelty. It's not just the animals, either - it's the workforce that's treated horribly as well, especially illegal workers. Very sad.
I'm not a die-hard PETA person. But this is the last straw, I think. I've just seen/read too much about how horrible our animals are treated. Literally, it makes me sick. I can't, in good conscience, contribute to this cruelty. I don't care what other people do, but for me, it has to happen. That's not to say I won't eat meat, don't get me wrong. But I will try my absolute hardest to only eat it if I know where it came from. For instance, Q's parents buy their beef from a farmer they know who lives near them, and they know exactly how the cows are raised, and how they are slaughtered. We'll usually go in on that, so I've got beef covered. And my boss gets his pork (that sounds so wrong) from a family near his in-laws, so maybe I can hook something up there.
For now, I'm going to focus on cutting out meat. I'll work on dairy and cheese later. One at a time, folks. I'm telling you, the non-dairy cheese better be good, or I won't be happy. I do love my cheese. I'm going to quit drinking milk right away, though. I thought about it, and it is weird that we, as adults, are drinking the milk of other animals. No other species drinks milk as adults. There are a ton of other ways to get calcium. And dairy cows are treated just as horrible as the rest. Soy milk, here I come!
Anyway, I thought I'd declare this openly, as it will hopefully make it easier to stick to the plan. Tonight will be hard because I'm going to O'Connell's with my parents, and the hamburgers there are delicious. Realistically, though, I just have to think of one of the many horrible images I saw on that video to wipe away the craving. They have delicious salads, too.
Blood Ray, if you're still reading, any good veggie suggestions?
3 comments:
I wanted to be a vegetarian at one point, but I remembered the food cahin. It's just a part of nature.
It can be done... though I have a firm belief that anyone of northern/western european decent can't pull it off and remain healthy, but that's not based on anything but my own experience and ancedotes on the matter.
One thing to consider though: remember that all large-scale growing of plant food requires destruction of animal habitat, and the equipment that takes care of the field (e.g. a combine) will kill hundreds to thousands of small mammals and birds per field. So you're not doing animals any favours on the whole.
Industrialized meat production, especially in the USA does have a lot of problems, but it's not the only source of meat. Try reducing your meat intake (most Americans eat too much to start with), and buy organic and free-range. This is a better approach in my opinion.
But it's not a part of nature to torture, mutilate, and beat the hell out of the animals we eat.
I'm not giving up meat for good, as noted above - I'm going to do my best to only eat meat that I know didn't come from large scale horror processing plants.
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