Becoming vegetarian has been and continues to be a life altering decision for me. I never in a million years would have thought that the decision to stop eating meat would set off so many emotional land-minds. It seems that once I decided to educate myself about the health benefits of vegetarianism, the main reason for my decision, I unwittingly stumbled upon the animal rights aspect of it. And this, this is what I’m having the most difficult time dealing with. Where I once actively avoided knowing how chickens, pigs and cows were treated before they were killed and put on my plate, I now listen and read and I weep. How someone can really know this information and still continue to eat meat is beyond my comprehension now. It seems that my inner world has changed so dramatically that I can’t find a comfortable place to rest my thoughts. It’s like someone has come in and changed the filing system without telling me and I’m left to try and figure it out. By not eating meat I’ve decided to not live in ignorance of the suffering of animals anymore and now that I’ve done this I don’t know what to do with all the emotions that have risen to the surface because of it. I feel guilt. I feel sadness. I feel disgust. I feel hypocritical. Above all these however, I feel a deep sense of conviction that the choice I’ve made is the best one. It is the only choice for me.
I feel more connected to animals. Feeding the kangaroos in Australia was a key moment for me. I’ve never felt such compassion for an animal before. Nor have I been so aware of the double standard that exists for animals. Here we were a bunch of tourist on a day tour feeding the national animal of Australia only to find it on the menu at the restaurant later that day and hanging on a rack in a plastic package labelled ‘kangaroo jerky’ at the airport as we were about to fly out of the country. We as North Americans balk at the thought of South Koreans eating dog; of Japanese eating raw horse yet we don’t blink an eye when a pig is sent to slaughter. A damn of emotions has been broken and it’s flooding into every aspect of my life. I’ve said it a couple times recently and I believe it to be true, I’m a nicer person now. I don’t know if becoming a vegetarian has such a dramatic impact on everyone but for me it has been revolutionary.
5 comments:
Why is the kangaroo wearing a skirt?
Check out that pouch :)
Ok, a serious comment:
What about veganism then? I think a case can be made that eating the products of animals is not only healthy, but also natural. Then you have to consider how farmers raise these animals and in what conditions they are treated. It all sounds so easy, but very difficult to practice, given western's culture affinity for processed mass consumption.
Good for you staying with it. It is hard making drastic life changing decisions like that. Vegetarianism is a much healthier lifestyle, assuming you are making sure to get the nutrients that you would have otherwise gotten from meat, protein for example.
By the way, kangaroo is fucking delicious.
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