World Vegetarian Day

Are veggies YOUR friend?

I have a weird hobby. I like to look up on Wikipedia whatever the day's date is. So today, like always, I searched "October 1" on Wikipedia, and began skimming through the page. A few things caught my eye about October 1st: Disney World in Florida opened, same-sex marriages became legal in Denmark -- which was the first country to introduce them, Nigeria gained its independence from the U.K., it's International Day of Older Persons, and World Vegetarian day. (History of October 1st on Wikipedia) In the likely event that you do not share my habit, I would like to inform you that today is a big, happy day! Yesterday was T-Pain's birthday, the two-year anniversary of the deadly Sumatra earthquake, and International Blasphemy Day, which is especially depressing considering it was Rosh Hashanah. Yesterday was clearly not as good of a day as today is -- World Vegetarian Day!


Now let me start off by saying that I love meat, almost all meat too. And fish too, regardless of whether it has been cooked, filleted, fried, broiled, rolled in rice and seaweed, you name it. So it seems very fitting that there would be an entire day dedicated to people unlike me who have the control to avoid these guilty pleasures. As the World Vegetarian Day Wikipedia page says: "[the day] brings awareness to the ethical, environmental, health and humanitarian benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle." The first reason I admire vegetarians is for their ethical beliefs that it is wrong to eat animals. My first reaction whenever someone says she is a vegetarian is, "Who cares about those animals? It's survival of the fittest, and I am more fit!" But after trying to feel some sympathy for the animals, I realized that I too am an animal- all humans are. Just because I am lucky enough not to have to worry about being killed and eaten as food (thank god!), does not mean that I should not feel responsible for other animals who aren't so lucky. With much new research coming out on cows and the methane they produce hurting the environment, abstaining from eating meat seems like it does more than just save the life of some cows, it could be saving the life of a polar bear too. 

Despite the fact that we all know it is good to be a vegetarian, most of us are not. It may be because like me, you love meat and fish too much, or it could be something else. Eating meat is a privilege, and a symbol of wealth. My sister has recently gotten some first hand experience on this now that she is just out of college and trying to support herself on a first job salary. She often complains about how she can't eat meat and that she is feeling deprived. I think Americans are proud of the hard work that they have put in to come this far to not only be able to eat meat but be picky with it, and they certainly are not ready to give up this "greedy" lifestlye. Why else do YOU think Americans love to eat meat? Why do we chose to ignore the little voice in our heads of the cute cow mooing?