Why I'm Vegetarian

     Hey guys,
Today, the post title actually makes sense (cheer!) because I'm going to talk about why I'm vegetarian.
     I get asked about that a TON. And I get why, it's sort of unusual, I know a lot of other vegetarians, but I sure know way more non-veggies!

     I've been a vegetarian a couples times, but until the summer of last year, I hadn't stuck to it for more than a few days at a time. Partially because my family likes meat and I used to cook dinner for them every night, and I wouldn't cook them meat when I was vegetarian, so they didn't get meat. So they got mad at me and I stopped. :P

     Now, when I originally started thinking about becoming a vegetarian this particular time, it was because I was going on a mission trip to Peru, and I was told that I'd be expected to try anything I was served, unless I had a "valid excuse:. Which, they said, could possibly include guinea pigs, llamas, and alpacas.
     I could not be responsible for the deaths of such adorable creatures, and I definitely could not eat them. Uh-uh. Llamas are one of my favorite animals ever. I like to hug them, not eat them.
     So to avoid eating them, I considered becoming vegetarian again, because that was considered a "valid excuse." I decided I should look into it a bit more before I went for it, so I did a bit of research on why people become vegetarian. And some of the reasons seemed pretty valid, and along with my own reasons, it was enough to convince me to become and stay vegetarian.

     I've always loved animals, which is the main reason I tried to be vegetarian the first couple times, but I don't think it's wrong to eat meat. I often joke that I think you"Carnivores" are disgusting, but I don't really mean it at all.

     However, I think we have a duty to treat the animals well while they live and kill them as painlessly as possible. I don't think the world is succeeding in doing that quite yet. I mean, electrocuting chickens and waving them around upside down, then killing them? I sure wouldn't like that. They also spend their entire lives cooped up in the tiniest spaces, perhaps never knowing the pleasure of running around in the grass. That sounds pretty sad to me, and though me avoiding meat won't stop it, I don't want to help it continue either.

     I also don't really trust meat companies either. Who knows what weird stuff they're feeding the animals to make them grow bigger faster. D: And what if the meat isn't what it says it is? I don't know how anyone can trust meat companies after the whole horse meat thing.

     Meat also isn't especially healthy for you and it's kind of expensive as well. I also really hate the taste of seafood, and ham, and love most animals too much to eat them. So being vegetarian has been a good option for me, really.

     But I do occasionally miss eating meat a bit, not super often, but sometimes. And if I got meat from a local farmer that I knew treated his animals well and they were killed humanely, I would eat it.

     Another good reason to not eat meat, or eat less, is that to some degree, it might be contributing to world hunger. Which is explained in this SciShow video. Sorry, it's a pretty long video, but it's pretty interesting as well.

So yes, I hope I covered everything.. I may have forgotten something but those were the key points at least :)

Oh, and I'm only vegetarian, not vegan, by the way.  :P

Thanks for reading, bye bye!