On refraining from meat

I became a vegetarian when I was in college and admittedly, it can feel like a hassle. Not to say that maintaining the diet is difficult, but just explaining the reasoning behind it can get taxing. Then again it’s interesting to hear why people eat in a certain way, even if it’s not really a huge part of who they are (or their perception of their being).

My childhood was somewhat focused on meat eating and, most importantly, grossing my sisters out by eating huge lumps of steak fat. I actively ate any cow, pig, chicken, and/or other meat that graced my parent’s kitchen. And I enjoyed the hell out of it. I don’t recall the exact point in my younger years when I started feeling awkward about eating something I couldn’t kill with my own hands…there are two incidents that come to mind though. Once my Dad found a big rat in the corn house and, knowing full well that this rat was stealing his horse feed, he stomped it to death. I felt an overwhelming sense of despair that my (then) heroic/godly father would boot this poor creature to death. Maybe I just sympathized with the rat’s need to find food? I’m sure it also had to do with watching the Secret of Nimh around that age, but regardless…

The other scenario that comes to mind is a hunting trip. I had been deer hunting with my Dad before, but this time he wanted to give me a chance to actually shoot, rather than just observe the process. He went off in a thicket to try and scare deer, while I waited in the field with the shotgun at the ready. Sure enough, a young doe took off running across my field of vision. I started to squeeze the trigger…and couldn’t. I wanted to…really anything to impress my Dad and prove that I wasn’t a well-kept city boy. I realized though that no matter what, I felt an ethical conflict with shooting a living creature. It was personal and it felt like a true self-realization.

Several years later and I chose a meat-free existence (or nearly so). I didn’t want to go outside and butcher an animal, so I didn’t want to fry up ground beef from a plastic wrapped package in a grocery store. It was helpful later on to learn that it was an environmentally friendly and healthy choice….but I can’t pretend like that had anything to do with my decision. Maybe it reinforces that choice now, but that’s about it.

I like it that my wife chooses to eat in a different way…I guess it just keeps it interesting. Plus she normally chooses local, free range meat. So she’s actually going a step beyond me and creating a “yes” vote for an alternative to the factory fed, agribusiness method of meat consumption in the US. We talk sometimes about raising chickens and, though I would feel awkward about it, I wouldn’t feel opposed to raising them for meat if they’re treated well. But if I have to get the chopper block out…I’m pretty sure I would change my mind. Plus I’m sure I would end up naming each chicken and that would be the end of the road.