Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon? No. Ham? No! Pork chops? Dad, those all come from the same animal! Heh heh heh, ooh yeah right, Lisa. A wonderful magical animal.
I've tried being vegetarian before because I thought it was healthier for me and the animals that I would otherwise eat. I kept it up for a few months but eventually gave it up because I felt it was difficult to ask for a special menu everytime I ate with friends and family. People always felt bad if I wouldn't eat the main course. I still don't eat much meat but I'll pretty much eat whatever is served when meals are prepared for me.
Mrs JB left out the best part in that story about her uncle. First off, her uncle is just a really great guy with a great sense of humor so this fit him perfectly. After many questions from him about eating meat (You eat chicken, right? But you eat fish, right?), she finally turned to him and said, "I don't eat anything with a face." I think he got that one. I became a vegetarian almost 7 years ago. One day I was eating some greasy piece of fried chicken for lunch and I just decided I didn't want to eat meat anymore. That was just it. Mrs JB certainly influenced my decision but she never once tried to get me to stop eating meat and we ate out a lot prior to my stopping. I grew up in a very conservative family of BIG meat eaters. My grandfather used to sit around the table talking about slaughterhouses to make conversation - seriously. Many of my elder relatives grew up on farms and never really got my decision. Frankly, giving up meat was easy. I will occassionally crave fried chicken or maybe some types of seafood, but it's pretty rare for me. I have had a MUCH tougher time kicking the caffeine (sodas) habit. That is FAR more difficult than meat. Oh, and I've seen the hippie comparison to vegetarianism like TJ posted and sometimes that is spot on. But, truthfully, I've known quite a few hippies and mostly they are just annoying. Most of the vegetarians I know couldn't be a hippie if you put them on a commune and made them carry flowers all day. drapg: Man, I understand people not getting it, but people aren't idiots. They just don't understand. The reality is that WE are the minority here. We are the one's responsible for helping people to understand. My guess is that assuming they are idiots for not understanding won't help.
