Eating II

I respect people's choices about what they will or won't eat.  At the risk of offending people, I want to say a few words about this.

I was once a vegetarian.  I didn't eat meat or fish, but I did eat eggs and dairy.  For almost 10 years.  This was before vegetarianism was common and it was difficult, if not impossible to eat out in a restaurant.  I was once taken out to dinner by a lady who was Catholic for my birthday.  She took me to a fish house.  When I looked at the menu, the ONLY thing I could eat (according to my rules) was hush puppies.  There were no salads or vegetables of any kind.  So I ordered hush puppies.  The waitress yelled at me, "Is that ALL you're going to eat?"  The lady protested, "but fish isn't meat!"  Catholics didn't used to eat meat on Friday, they ate fish--not meat!  And this was the whole reason she had taken me to the fish place.  I wanted to crawl under the table.  Everyone was embarrassed.

Eating at people's houses was also a chore.  They would be personally offended if I didn't try their meatloaf or whatever.  They were always challenging me and demanding to know why I wouldn't eat meat.  I didn't understand why they cared.


I offended people right and left.  It was very uncomfortable.  One day I was a guest at someone's house who didn't know me well and I just ate the meatloaf.  As a courtesy to my hostess.  I have been eating meat ever since.

Jesus once said that people are far more concerned with what goes in their mouth than what comes out of it.

One day someone asked me why I was vegetarian and I said that I didn't want to kill things.  He said, "You have to kill a carrot to eat it don't you?"  I didn't have an answer but that has stuck with me ever since.

You can make up whatever rules you wish about eating, but it is all artificial.  If everything is alive (see post on the Universe is alive), then you must kill to eat.  This place (planet Earth) is set up that way.  Whether or not it has eyes or a mother or whatever your criteria are, it is alive.  Fruits and nuts are embryos.  They are alive.  If your food wasn't alive, it couldn't keep you alive. Everything is sacred or nothing is sacred.  Take your pick.

Be happy.  Be gracious.  Be grateful to the beings that give themselves so that you may live.