My Vegetarian Choices - Why All The Questions?

The strangest phenomena occurs when you start to tell those you love about your choice to become a vegetarian

. They usually start asking some fairly insensible, unintelligible questions, and the questions really don't even seem much like questions, rather they tend to have the air of hostility. You can actually feel like you are in a prize fight deflecting jabs and straight right hands. If you have never experienced this I am sorry to say that it is probably just a matter of time.

If I had decided to quit drinking, or smoking, or any other bad habit, generally I would be met with the standard, "congratulations!", or "I'm happy for you!". Why then, when I have decided to quit putting artery clogging animal fats, and the antibiotic and hormone laden flesh of dead and diseased carcasses into my body, and exchange this for a heart healthy vegetarian diet, am I bombarded with questions and angry commentary as to why I shouldn't do such a dastardly deed?

Honestly, my life actually runs a bit smoother when I am not forced to engage in any major disagreements concerning my eating habits or the color and style of my underwear decisions for that matter. I would rather just point those that have become offended at my lifestyle choices to my articles and let them get a bit more than a piece of my mind on the subject. Actually the articles that I write are really my main voice for vegetarianism. I really am not one to wave a banner in front of friends and family and attempt to persuade them to adopt the same life choices that I have, although I will vigorously defend my beliefs if confronted. If they have honest questions about the merits of a plant-based diet, I feel very comfortable discussing the subject with them, but I don't generally try to initiate the conversation. I guess the only reason the subject of what I eat would ever come up at all is because there is meat at every function I attend. That of course poses a problem. Of necessity I must inform folks about my stance when it comes to animal consumption, or at least only partake of side dishes that I am comfortable with and hope nobody has any major queries as to what I might be up to.

But there is something else that I also find quite a conundrum each time I am forced to defend my vegetarian lifestyle. It never ceases to amaze me how really intelligent folks who have displayed much more common sense than I throughout their lives become utterly perplexed when it comes to the issues surrounding vegetarianism.

In my own personal journey when I first started examining the question of a healthy diet and a vegetarian lifestyle it seemed that the benefits were really crystal clear. Although I had been a meat eater my entire life I could not deny the mountain of documentation on the subject. Moreover the evidence was quite compelling and so easy to believe. On whatever front the discussion or debate was waged, when comparing a plant-based diet to an animal-based diet the vegetarian way always seemed like common sense to me. Whether we were comparing the merits of one against another in regards to the health of the human body, the environment, or the inhumane treatment of our animal friends, consuming plants instead of animals is a responsible choice from every angle, and really dare I say, "a no-brainer!".

I am also quite certain that if any honest soul examines the issues and compares the virtues and flaws (I can't find any worth mentioning in a vegetarian diet) of both lifestyles with a view to arriving at the truth, and this without prejudice, they will always find in favor of a vegetarian way of life. The evidence is simply that one sided and clear.

For me the intelligent question really should not be, "Why are you a vegetarian"?, but rather "What has possessed you to continue the ridiculously unhealthy, environmentally disastrous, utterly barbaric, and inhumane practice of eating intelligent animals"?

My Vegetarian Choices - Why All The Questions?

By: mark brohl

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