Meat is Murder

A couple of times in my adult life I have given brief consideration to becoming a vegetarian. Never out of concerns for my own health (although that would be a wonderful side-effect), but always after being affected by some clip of animal cruelty or some documentary on factory farming.

Well, here I am again. I'm sure you've heard about the recent recall of beef (the largest in American history) because of hidden camera footage showing sick, weak cows being forced to "walk," which proves (supposedly) that they are healthy enough to eat. I won't even post a link to the video. I watched it and just felt sick. It is repulsive that living creatures are treated that way.

I will describe the video though because not speaking of it does a huge disservice I think to the truth of what goes on. In the video, cows that are so sick and weak and emaciated that they can hardly move are being tortured in an effort to make them move on their own. As I said, the fact that they can move on their own allegedly proves that they are healthy enough to eat. They are electrocuted with these stun-gun-type rods. They are kicked. They are beaten around the head and jabbed in the eyes with sharp sticks. When all that fails, they are actually pushed, pulled, thrown around, lifted up, and tossed aside by forklifts.

I can't stand to be a part of the reason that happens. But make no mistake, I am a part of why that happens. I love meat. I eat meat as much as anyone I know. I can't think of a day in years that I haven't consumed some type of meat.

I am not ready to become a vegetarian. I do not think I even could at this point -- physically or mentally. Maybe that will never happen for me. However, I can have a positive impact. It is not easy. It is complicated. It is expensive. But a person can consume meat without being a part of this immoral, disgusting factory farming system.

The first step I am going to take is to cut down on the amount of beef, pork, and poultry I eat. I do not need to eat meat 7 days a week. That's riduculous. I think I can easily do that. Fruits and veggies, pasta, grains, cheese, potatoes -- there are a lot of things I can have. And fish. From my understanding, there isn't this cruelty problem with fish (except with the larger, more unusual fish that some folks eat such as shark and whale).

The second thing I am going to do is only purchase meat that has come from free-range farms. It is more expensive, but worth it. And luckily, Austin provides plenty of opportunities to find that type of meat. In researching that, I actually found this cool place that delivers organic groceries to your door on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. They have a decent selection of meats that comes from humane, local farms. I think I'm going to give it a try.

The third step I want to take (this will be harder for me, and might take some time) is to not eat beef, pork, or poultry in restaurants. I can eat fish. I can eat cheese pizza or cheese enchiladas. I can eat pasta. Even just typing this out, I feel how hard this will be for me. But it is something I want to work on.

I'm just trying to learn about the positive steps I can take. Hopefully, I'll discover other or better decisions I can make. If you have ideas, let me know.