I am a dietary vegan, and so this Thanksgiving, my fiance and I will be enjoying a tasty Tofurkey this evening. In addition, we will hopefully be having a sweet potato pie, some delicious steamed vegetables, and a pound cake for dessert. All vegan items, and all tasty.

Many people assume I became a vegan because my fiance has been a vegetarian for over nine years and vegan for over three. They couldn’t be more wrong. I became a vegetarian and then vegan because of an evolution of personality. It all started on a flight back from Kansas City. A couple days earlier, I had indulged in an orgy of Kansas City barbecue, and my stomach felt like I had a large cancerous lump waiting to kill me. I was sweating what felt like grease. My asthma seemed to be acting up. I felt terrible, and it hit me like a flash: It was time to stop the meat.

Ever since then, I’ve been a vegetarian, and haven’t missed meat. My cholesterol has dropped over sixty points, my asthma is the best it’s ever been, and I’ve feel pretty good overall. Now that I have three dogs, a cat, and live on a farm where I regularly see cows and baby cows, the thought of eating meat grosses me out. I’ve seen a baby cow try to play with one of my dogs. I’ve seen cows playing with each other. On occasion, I’ve seen some wild turkeys gather in my front yard, gobbling up a storm. How could I eat the same animals I see every day, playing and frolicking like any dog or cat one might consider a part of the family.

So while its probably too late to change anyone’s mind for this holiday, I hope for Christmas, more people can take a second thought and consider something like Tofurkey. Just start simple, by saving one animal. See how it feels to know, no animal was harmed to give you a full stomach.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 24th, 2005 at 1:23 pm and is filed under Current Events, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.