Going Vegetarian

  My mother and I have been talking about becoming vegetarians for a few years, but we never had the drive to. We were always going vegetarian for about seven days, then we ate chicken. My mother does not eat beef or pork so, naturally, i did not eat pork. I did eat beef because my father eats both, along with veal. When i was younger, the idea of killing a lamb made me very upset, so I stopped eating veal. I always thought that killing a defenseless animal was wrong, but I never thought about it in depth. When I did start thinking about the way an animal is killed, I always thought that it was a painless procedure. Now, after watching Fast Food Nation I can see that the way I thought animals were killed is not the way it is in reality. The way animals are killed is by being shot in the back of the head with a nail, then being hung upside down. While upside down, the workers cut the main artery, killing them. After the cows are dead, the workers skin them and cut them up. The meat packing industry uses 99 percent of each cow that they kill. The only thing that they don’t use is the eyes and parts of the head. The factories that the meat is cut up in is very unsanitary and very dangerous. There tends to be rats in the factories and when meat falls on the floor, the workers just pick it up and continue with their jobs, as if nothing happened. People also fall into the machines. In Fast Food Nation, one of the machines ends up getting turned on and someone falls in. While, screaming for help, his leg ends up being ripped off and being shredded into the meat. Imagining that I am eating another human being or things being picked up off the floor disgusts me, and is one of the reasons I decided to become a vegetarian. When I told my mom, she was proud of me and asked me to help her become one. My grandmother was also proud and was glad that I was doing what I thought was right. My dad was slightly upset, but was okay with my decision. Everyone had supported me in a big way, and I’m proud to say that all I eat is chicken and fish.  Some people though that I couldn’t go without meat and told me that soon I would start eating it again. So far, I have not eaten beef or pork in over one month. I still have problems giving up chicken, but I am working on that and hoping to be a vegetarian. I have heard, like Ella has, that not eating meat is not going to change anything. The truth is, I do not care if they think that way, but I am doing this for me, and it’s my choice whether I want to eat meat or not. If I can’t change anything, then maybe me and others who team up can change something in the world. In Fast Food Nation, they did a close up of the cows face, and when they did, you could see the fear in they eyes. In her eyes you could see fear, and pleading, pleading to save her, pleading to get her out of there. That is when I realized that animals have feelings and families, just like humans. They feel pain and happiness, just like us. We are killing animals for out own needs. We are being greedy and always wanting something and when we don’t get it, we complain and protest until we do sometimes. If the government did not gives up beef, there would be a riot and many protests until we were able to have out meat again. We are ending lives for out own enjoyment and consumption.