Day 1.27 Eat Crow

Ten Reasons Why I Don't Eat Meat

1) Almost all commercial meat products are filled with chemicals, steroids, preservatives, hormones and other nasty shit.

2) The producers and manufacturers of meat products are not interested in your health, they are interested in your money.

3) I feel a sting kinship with all life. That means denizens of both the plant and animal kingdoms. Plants have but one 'reason' for being, animals many. Ask a service dog.

4) I cannot justify eating chicken when spinach will do. Eggs, on the other hand, provide protein without having mama hen make the ultimate sacrifice, thusly adding a layer (!) of job security as a nest egg (OK, I'll stop). Ocam's Razor speaks to this.

5) Have you ever seen a processing plant?

6) Torture is OK on humans, so therefor OK for animals too, apparently. The profit and power end must somehow justify the means. In every animal, man included, the body releases powerful hormones upon realization that the jig is about up. A fatal, or near fatal incident releases these chemicals into the bloodstream in a last-gasp effort for survival. YOU THEN CONSUME that tainted flesh.

7) When I was 17 a cheeseburger was 25 cents. I ate a lot of them. Over the years my metabolism has changed and I can no longer process the toxins sandwiched between plastic cheese and fortified patties.

8) Check on the amount of environmental damage done on a daily basis from methane, over grazing, and corn futures. We feed cows corn to sell steak to the wealthy* while the price for maize escalates towards impossible for the poor*. This makes perfect sense if you are a politician.

9) Have you checked the price of beef lately?

10) Look DEEP into the eyes of your pet. That is unconditional love. We have a responsibility to use or superior intellect* to steward the balance and harmony of the planet. We share that turf with our cousins in the animal kingdom. I wonder who really is the endangered species?

For me, it is not only about health, about economics, about fellowship, about stewardship, or about politics. It is about feeling my place in the world as sensitive, gentle and caring. I am a part of this miracle. If I am to respect its creator and myself as a part, I must respect all life. Not hunt it, kill it and eat it.

Or eat crow.

*Subject to interpretation or statistical spin.