September Anniversaries.

Today is my friend Taylor's 3rd wedding anniversary. Tomorrow is my 3rd NJ resident anniversary (the day I moved to NJ). September 9 is the day I officially became a vegetarian (will be 1 full year). Each of these days are important to me because they all speak of great changes in my life. I was supposed to be there for Taylor when she was married but unfortunately I had to be in NJ in time for school. I was there in spirit and now that are friendship has rekindled, I would like to wish her a very Happy Anniversary. Of course, moving to NJ was a big step in itself especially since I have no family up here and at the time I had no friends. As for becoming a vegetarian, well that is a BIG change. Giving up meat (including fish) is not and has not been easy. Yes, there have been times where I have craved or dreamed of eating meat but in the end it is my reason for giving it up that keeps me going.

Why did I give up meat?

I was taking an Animals & Justice class at the time. The class talked about factory farming, animal abuse, circuses, aquariums, the evolution of pets, etc. The first day of class the Professor showed us a film on how animals are slaughtered. I just couldn't take it. I cried the entire time we watched that video. In fact, I cried at a minimum of 5 times that semester. Then there were the cases of spousal and child abuse being linked to those who work in these factory farms (Because they beat the animals prior to slaughter and then escalate to domestic abuse). Also, the fact that the majority of our crops are grown to feed these animals that we later slaughter. Those crops, grains, soybeans, etc., are enough to feed all those who are hungry in the world for an entire year! (I used to have the information on my laptop but deleted it once I was finished with the fall semester). My point is that while I will eat meat if it is freshly killed or caught (hunting and fishing are fine with me so long as you eat it and not just kill for sport) but I will not support factory farms. I would much rather just eat vegetables for the rest of my life if that is what it takes.

It's my way of boycotting a poisoned industry. An industry that does not care about sanitary or humanitarian conditions but rather money money money. They don't care about the animals they cage up and become diseased or those who work for them. No one is really benefiting from these factory farms.

So this is why I gave up meat.

*I am also boycotting Wal-Mart and McDonald's because of their poor business practices and crappy services.

**I do support free range chickens, people who hunt their own food so long as it isn't wasted for sport, and fishing from small/local fisherman. However, the more we eat meat the more we create an imbalance in the ecosystem.

***Also, I'm not saying that omnivores are a horrible people for eating meat. I do not mind that people do eat meat and in fact my fiance eats meat. It's just that we need to be more conservative with the amount of meat we eat and also promote eating more vegetables.