When I was younger, I never made the connection between meat and animals. It is something that is brushed aside a lot of the time, and eating meat is just a normal part of most people’s lives. I never saw anything wrong with eating it because everyone else did it and it’s what I’d grown up knowing was okay. However, just over a year ago (it was exactly a year just a few days ago) I decided that I no longer wanted to eat meat.
3 of my close friends were vegetarians and for a few months in advance to actually stopping eating meat, I wanted to become one too. Having them around educated me a lot on what I was actually consuming and I didn’t like it one bit. But, I brushed it aside because I thought my parents would never let me. After a while though, I couldn’t ignore it anymore and one day something clicked in my mind meaning I couldn’t look at meat as anything other than a suffering animal (I still look at meat the same way now). From then on, I stopped eating meat completely. My parents couldn’t force me to eat it and so they allowed me to become a vegetarian, and I’m super grateful for their co-operation!
Beforehand, I watched many documentaries and videos such as Cowspiracy and Earthlings. This really made me realise what animals have to go through just for us to eat them; even when we can live perfectly fine without doing so. Eating meat does more bad than good to the environment, our bodies and, of course, the animals which is why I decided that eating it was not worth it.
Another thing that also led me to becoming a vegetarian was something that happened in one of my lessons at school. During religious studies we were talking about Christian views on animals, which led us to sharing our own opinions on what we should / shouldn’t use animals for. My teacher asked for someone to give her a reason as to why they eat meat, and the only thing anyone could come up with was “because it tastes good”. Not one person could think of any other reason, especially an ethical one, as to why we do. That led me to realise there really is no point in it! I’m not going to lie and say I don’t enjoy the taste of meat (because it does taste good), however there are so many substitutes and other tasty things to eat. Plus, I really don’t think an animal dying is worth it just for 10 minutes of pleasing my taste buds.
Now, I know being a vegetarian is not the end to my journey. Veganism is the next stop, because if you really want to have an impact it’s best to stop using / consuming animal products completely. I’ve taken a few steps towards this, such as only buying cruelty free makeup and eating a majority of vegan meals. Step by step I’m getting there, and hopefully in the near future I will be vegan!
I understand that not everyone will feel the same way about being a vegetarian, and I’m not one to attack people because of that. It’s the complete wrong way to go about things if you want to make a difference as people will just be put off by it. However, I’d really recommend educating yourself on the damage that eating meat does (and dairy / eggs too), and even if you’re not willing to completely cut meat out, cutting down is still better than nothing!
Jasmine Leah 