It’s my veggiversary

I don’t remember the exact date I stopped eating meat, but I remember doing it in mid-October of 2003. So I have hit my five-year veggiversary. When I think about the day I became a vegetarian, I almost can’t believe it. I made an impulsive decision to change my entire diet.

I decided to quit after my speech class that day. I had already been reading Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation for one class, heard about my professor and classmates who were vegetarian in another class. But I think my speech class did it for me. The girl who was about to speak warned everyone that it would be graphic. She passed around handouts of caged and slaughtered animals that were bred and raised to be killed for food. It made me feel bad, almost sick, because I felt in my heart that I personally was not making a good choice by eating animal meat.

Now, I am not an activist. I’m not a member of PETA and I don’t plan to be. My decision to become a vegetarian was solely personal.

It just feels like the right thing for me to do. And I’m happy to have done it. I have to admit, though, that I am certainly not healthy.