Bitchy Vegetarian

Technically I'm not a vegetarian. I'm a pescetarian (meaning I eat fish). I take a lot of flack for this. "Fish are animals. Therefore you eat animals, right?" It used to make me very uncomfortable, guilty even. But I'm happy to report that I've decided to officially accepted my status as pescetarian. Call me whatever you want!

I found myself on the defense more often than not when I alerted someone new of my eating habits. People love to put me in a corner- accuse me of being a poor vegetarian, or prod into my reasoning, trying to prove me wrong. "No matter what you do animals are still dying so what’s the point!?" That one really pisses me off. I'm a vegetarian (ok, pescetarian) because I don't want to eat animals. I'm well aware that one person not eating meat will not keep more animals alive. I realize I'm probably not making a huge dent in the pockets of butchers and slaughterhouses. But that's not the point.

Everything in life seems to be a contest. Like we're all trying to outdo each other. And if we can't be number one then we put others down to justify that. In the race to be green carrying re usable bags around isn't good enough. You must drive a hybrid and install solar panels as well. In the race to be the ideal family in my hometown driving a Benz isn't good enough. You must have a vacation house and apartment in the city as well. It's tiring trying to be the best!

Early on in my veggie days (which started when I was twelve) I was a strict vegetarian. No gelatin, no fish, no cheeses containing rennet (an additive in some cheeses to coagulate milk- it comes from animal stomachs). I wanted to be the best. Eventually, after three Halloweens without my absolute favorite Candy Corn (which contains gelatin) I broke down. I ate an entire bag of the candy corn and candy pumpkin mix. I missed my gummy sugar fixes more than any meat!

After my Candy Corn breakdown I felt like a failure. I didn't fit inside those perfect lines. I wasn't the best. I stopped telling people I was a vegetarian because I was so ashamed, even though I still wasn't eating any actual meat.

I say screw those perfect lines! I'm not a vegetarian for everybody else. I'm a vegetarian for the animals. What those money hungry industrial farms do to animals is despicable. The inhumane torture they put innocent chickens, cows, sheeps and pigs through should be outlawed. I find our government, and sometimes our world to be full of Species-ism. Animals deserve our full respect. I show them my respect by not eating or wearing them. If others show their respect by eating less of them, or by not using products tested on them, or by simply supporting them then that's great too.

If everyone skipped meat for just one day the U.S would save 70 million gallons of gas, 1.5 billion pounds of crops,and 100 billion gallons of water. If you're trying- you're succeeding.

(Stats from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-freston/the-breathtaking-effects_b_181716.html)