internet literature

Thursday, January 22, 2009

fully vegetarian, maybe + ethics of opinions, maybe

i feel like my conversion to vegetarian has completed. the last time i ate meat was when someone made me a salad and put turkey slices into it. i had tried to be a vegetarian in the summer of 2007 and it only lasted two months. i got drunk one night and the next day ate a cheeseburger that was delicious, more delicious animal based meals followed in a depression aleviating manner. the following christmas my cousin gave me eeeee eee eeee as a gift. i read an interview with the author, tao lin, and felt immediately inspired. i also had a close friend who was a full vegetarian conversion for over two years at the time. that person lives in a different state so i couldn't share many meals with them. from the beginning of 2008 until the end of that summer i was primarily a vegetarian except for the occasional chicken cutlet, burger, meatball pasta which were always free or prepared by a family member at a meal to which there were no other choices. during early fall i started buying animal oriented meals again. for some reason i was being reckless and out of control. i didn't care any more. there would still be weeks or even a whole month, maybe october was that month when i'd choose against animal based meals. around christmas i bought bacon breakfast sandwiches, mcdonald and burger kind meals, long chicken club heroes, and my mom's seven fishes christmas eve tradition. after a recent trip to the super market i feel confident i won't spend anymore money on animal products. i've read ' the way we eat, why our food choices matter' by peter singer. i find healthy meal patterns that are good tasting and entertaining to follow. i'm accustomed to a wide range of vegetables and i eat fruit at the right times and regularly. i know where to get protein and i do so regularly. my only dilemma is the occasional opportunity to eat animal based meals that are free and available. at my job there are frequent occasions when 3 free meals are catered to the entire office. it is my chance to eat animals that i did not support the death of. it is my chance to take part in not letting pounds of food go to waste like they sometimes do when meals are prepared with hundreds of people in mind. i also rarely spend money on things like paper towels, garbage bags, and toilet paper. my roommate buys them and i use them regularly. where does the separation occur between my using of the thing and my support of the purchase and further existence of that product being profitable to it's manufacturers. i feel like the most effective way to overcome the existence of something negative is to concentrate on the problem that thing presents. i sort of feel like, for an example, me telling my roommate 'lets not buy anymore paper products except maybe toilet paper which we should use very conservatively' would aggravated the problem and one day create an overhaul production of paper products. i think one day i might say something aggressive about thousands of chickens being electrocuted, sliced, and having their blood drained while im on the food line in my work's lunch room when there is breaking news because a plane crashed into a school full of children. when everyone looks at me i'm going to be smiling wildly.

2 comments:

miles ross said...

... for eating a lot of pizza on different occasions recently after feeling good about not buy animal based meals.

Anonymous said...

the arbitrary nature of the universe