What Vegetarianism Has Done To Me

By Heather Robertson
PVPHS class of '04

"I will never kiss anyone whose mouth is the gravesite of thousands of animals." -- Danny Snodgrass, PVPHS Class of '03

I have four very close friends. Two of them are vegetarian, and two are vegan. It seems that this idea of eating no animals or animal products is growing more and more popular each day. Although I am not a vegetarian, just being around those four friends has gotten me eating much less meat and dairy. I am now acutely aware of how much dead animal I deposit in my body. As my good friend's brother said, "I will never kiss anyone whose mouth is the gravesite of thousands of animals."

Now I understand how pathetic and gross that really is. When I hear my friends preaching about vegetarianism, I don't just roll my eyes anymore like some others do. I have been subjected to so much vegetarian propaganda, I have become immune to the eye roll; I just can't do it anymore.

I have learned more than you know from this at first unwanted propaganda; I can tell you how milk is made of blood and puss and also what companies are the most inhumane to animals with their testing (Proctor & Gamble is one of the worst). Also, my English teacher has been a devout vegetarian since she was 8, and she, along with my friends, has influenced me to not eat meat.

Most of my family, however, is less than encouraging to my selective eating habits. My uncle laughs at me whenever I ask for non-animal food. My other uncle and aunt just roll their eyes. It is because of their blissful ignorance to my wants that I am not a vegetarian. Since they do not provide me the vegetarian option at family dinners, I either eat what is on my plate, or I starve. I believe that the family issue is a large part of what is hindering many people from choosing to be vegetarian. Not only do families not accept it, it is inconvenient for most to offer a different menu. At McDonald's, there is about one choice for vegetarians: the salad shaker. For families who eat out at fast food restaurants often, it is almost impossible to find an exciting meal for vegetarians.

Although I am not yet a true vegetarian, I believe that it is impossible to hinder the growing idea of vegetarianism. Just because of four of my friends and a teacher, I have decreased on the animal intake, and as long as the vegetarian preachers keep preaching their vegetarianism, the number of vegetarians can get no less