And why is the word “happy” in that title when referring to such a sad circumstance.
I’ll explain:
I don’t exactly know the age that I put 2 and 2 together. No one really told me where meat came from, at least how it came from a bird to a bucket. I must have assumed that I was eating an already dead animal? Like an apple that had fallen from a tree, I was partaking in eating the flesh of a fallen mammal perhaps? I just remember listening to a story my Grandmother told me about how other people would cut the heads off chickens when she was a girl and they would run around headless until they fell over dead. Apparently, this was a rather common practice. Horrified, I thought, well this can’t go on today.
No, it didn’t.
It was much worse, but I didn’t know it at the time.
I looked down at my piece of Kentucky Fried Hell and became so violently ill. Ill from guilt. From enjoying my meal that another animal with eyes and a heart and skin died to be a part of at $5.
I vowed to go vegetarian. I started reading everything I could, observing, asking questions, learning as much as I could so I could begin my assault into a world rather unfamiliar. My aunts at the time were semi-vegetarian(they have gone back to being full fledged meat eaters since then, I no longer have respect for them) so I did learn enough to get started, get some background.
When I was 12, I had my last piece of cold Christmas ham and I was done. And I mean done, no looking back.
From there, I gave up poultry, fish, animal tested products, and finally eggs and dairy. I did it in stages, studied nutrition, learned about my body, and at 29, am the healthiest I’ve ever been. I’m proud of the choices I make, knowing that I am making the most ecologically, financially, and ethically conscious decision available.
I wonder now how many parents haven’t told their kids where meat comes from and how it gets there, the gravity of the decision to take a life, and just how deplorable the current factory farm industry really is.
Something needs to change.
It has to.
I don’t see how the world can regain their humanity by eating the flesh of another.
I remember being in a Nutrition Class online at Macomb Community College. My thesis for the semester was a debate, which diet is superior, vegetarian or omnivore?
Out of 31 students, I was the only vegetarian sided. I was offered the option to change topics since it was so one sided. I said no, however, I felt confident that I could win the debates.
The research I did made me more confident than ever before, I won’t go into the graphic details, but there are immense amounts of resources about the horrors of an omnivorous diet. And I do mean the horrors.
Needless to say, I ended up winning EVERY SINGLE DEBATE.
I’ve paid my dues.
And I’m happy and grateful that you’ve decided to join me in my journey.
Namaste.
Heirloomed 