Why I Am

So I've been getting a lot of people asking me why I'm a vegetarian. It's not something I can explain to you in one sitting and it's not just one incident that suddenly just changed my whole mindset. I never actually sat down and listed out all my reasons why I chose this lifestyle, but since you guys (whoever asked me) want to know, I guess I'll just do it right now.

In order to begin organizing this whole mess in my head of the various reasons, I'll just start from the outside and work my way inward into my personal life. The destruction of our planet is one reason why I decide to be a vegetarian. There are so many negative effects meat production has on the planet, raising cattle, poultry and fishing, it's destroying our ecosystem. In addition to that the extent that farms go through to cut costs, packing animals into small enclosures, mistreatment of animals and ultimately the inhumane slaughtering of these animals. Plus the savagery of eating meat is just quite disturbing.

All the water, land and resources going to animal livestock is just not worth it. And then there's all the disease-causing elements in meat, talk about increasing lifespan. Most people think that the only nutrient you get from vegetables are carbohydrates, vitamins and fibers and very little protein, calcium, and iron. I've not really gone in-depth into studying this but I don't really buy it. Vegetarians can get their need nutrition for a balanced diet from a variety of foods, all of which that don't come with high-cholesterol, and diseases attached to it.

On the topic of the inhumane slaughtering of animals, it's not so much the killing of life that I'm against. What I'm against is the unreasonable and unnecessary killing of life. If I were absolutely against killing, I wouldn't even eat fruits and vegetables. I guess my biggest problem is the treatment of these farm animals. Whether it's for slaughter or even for farming their eggs and milk. For me, eggs is a strict no. I don't care whether it's alive or not, I care that animals have to suffer to give you eggs. For milk, it's another thing altogether. I'm not against drinking milk. In fact, if anything, dairy products SHOULD be in a vegetarian's diet. After all it's absurd to equate milk with life (if that's the case, breast-feeding would be cannibalism). But modern methods of obtaining milk are far from ethical. That's why I try to avoid dairy products as much as possible but not to the point of removing it from my diet. I'll still eat cereal with milk, but I wouldn't eat potato chips with cheese.

I believe that my actions have an effect on the world, no matter how small. Some people call it karma, some call it fate, god, the butterfly effect. I'd like to call it the natural flow of all things. This is the way God made the world. The scientific law of cause and effect is a parallel to everything having a cause and an effect - everything in the physical world that is. There's only one thing which is an unmoved mover, and that is the mind or the soul. Therefore even though my actions may not change the world, I refuse to add on to the destruction of the world. This is one of my beliefs in life, whether it's my livelihood, my religion or my basic everyday actions. I refuse to contribute to the System, I refuse to contribute to the downward spiral of religion, and I refuse to contribute to the collective stupidity in the world. This is how I live.

I believe that I am a spirit with flesh and soul. Therefore I have absolute control over my body and my mind, or I ought to have. So instead of living my life to serve my body, I make my body serve me instead. I take sufficient care of it to prolong my life, but I do not believe I have to serve it's every whim - hunger, fatigue or even sexual desires. My new lifestyle is more than just a physical thing, it's a mental thing. This new diet helps me in my self-control which then expresses itself in other areas of my life, which frees me from the bondage of the earthly desires.

Living healthy also opens a whole new dimension to living. I no longer feel hungry all the time, I can sleep better and my mind also seems clearer. I can stay awake for long hours without feeling tired. Although my sleep cycle is far from normal, I'm trying to switch it back to normal hours. I also feel clarity in my thoughts, I can think and reason better and organize my thoughts much better than before. It might just be a psychological thing, but it works for me.

I believe we were all created to subsist on fruits and vegetables and I would go as far as to say it's morally wrong to eat meat. But I wouldn't impose my beliefs onto other people, as in every other aspect of my life. I encourage people to go vegetarian but I'm not an elitist. There is no better or worse, it all comes down to how you want to live your life. If you want to eat meat, you will only live to face the consequences. I believe that the natural order of things will flow as it will. But just for the record, I don't have a problem with people eating meat, I only have a problem with people who have a problem with me being a vegetarian.

So now since I've addressed my reasons for being a vegetarian, let me go into why I don't see myself ever eating meat in the future. I'd be drawing parallels to Christianity, because "vegetarianism" is more than just a diet for me - it's a whole new lifestyle.

I've had people coming up to me asking me why don't I just be a vegetarian on selected days, and then eat meat on other days. The answer is simple. If you saw someone who was said he was a vegetarian eating meat, what would you think? Likewise if you saw someone who said he was a Christian praying to idols, what would you think? "The key to living is consistency." This is what I've always said and what I live by. If I said I was a vegetarian, but I ate meat in secret. Sooner or later the effects of this meat eating will come out in my life, if someone doesn't catch me it'll be some other thing such as high-cholesterol levels or some disease. This is something I cannot escape from. Likewise if I say that I'm a Christian, but I do "un-christianly" things in secret, sooner or later it's going to come out in my life, and people will find out. Hypocrisy is one of the most dangerous disease among other things in the human heart.

Some people don't get the whole point of being a vegetarian. They try to get away by getting caught in the technicalities of "vegetarianism". They argue over useless things like whether we should eat seafood or eggs or dairy products. I say we should err on the side of caution. Just like most people argue over whether Christians can go to clubs, and smoke and get tattoos. I say stop worrying about these technicalities and focus on the true spirit of Christianity. Most people choose their believes to suit their lifestyles. Whatever is most convenient, they do to make themselves feel better. "I'm a Christian, so I shouldn't steal and murder. But it's difficult not to tell lies, so I won't follow that commandment." Then they come up with various reasons to justify that. Some vegetarians find it hard to not include eggs and seafood in their diets, so they try to justify their reasons for doing so. For me, I adjust my lifestyle to suit my beliefs. If I belief that I shouldn't eat seafood, then I will not eat seafood no matter how tempting chilli crab may be.

Then again some people come up with reasons to justify NOT being a vegetarian, despite all the benefits. They say that being a vegetarian, they won't get the require nutrition they need for a balanced diet. Then they say that it's hard to find vegetarian food around. And then they start to try to convince you to not be a vegetarian too, as if I've never considered it on my own before. Likewise there are people who focus so much on the "do nots" of religion that they fail to see the overall benefits of being a Christian. And when their lifestyle catches up to them, they blame it on everything else - nature, God, people, fate. If you eat shellfish, you will risk getting Hepatitis. If you do, it's only because you ate the shellfish. But it's amazing how most people won't want to face the reality of the situation and they try to find all sorts of alternate reasons as to why they suffer so. These are symptoms of the blind and ignorant.

There is so much to say, but so little time. Being a vegetarian is not just something new in my life, but it's a reflection of my beliefs. So I can say the day that I stop being a vegetarian is the day I finally stop believing in anything else. This is why I am.