7/3/10

Kill Your Own Meat

I watched a snippet of a show yesterday where there are two men who are trying to survive in the wilderness.  All they have with them is a Swiss army knife and a couple of water bottles.  It was interesting for about ten minutes because as much as I like to play games and outdoor sports, I'm not too big a fan of getting dirt behind my fingernails.

The thing that caught my attention was watching how they caught an animal andone of the guys skinned it and took out all of its organs and then prepared it for roasting.  As he was doing that he mentioned that "a lot more people would become vegetarian if they had to kill and prepare their own meat."

That thought blew me away because it perfectly describes why I can't eat meat anymore.  There's probably a lot of you who wouldn't mind doing the dirty work to enjoy your meal, but I couldn't take a warm, soft, fuzzy animal and kill it after I looked it in the eye just so that I can eat it.  Not when I have other options. 

In college I majored in Recreation Management and as an internship we could choose between two overnight trips to go on.  One was a two day mini trip which would visit various recreation facilities and spend the night in a cabin.  The second was a week long trip which would camp out in the woods and learn survival techniques.  I chose the first shorter trip, not because of the aforementioned dirt under fingernails dilemma, but because during the week long trip one of the tasks was to capture, kill, and prepare a chicken.  I was sick to my stomach thinking about doing that and if it hadn't been for the availability of the first trip, I would have totally changed majors. 


Think about it. Could you really see yourself taking this:


-

Then doing this:



Then this:



Then taking these out:



In order to have this:


If you can, then more power to you.  I don't necessarily think it's right or wrong, I just think we're all different in that way.  Maybe there's something I can do that you could never do?  Like put mushrooms on my pizza?  (Okay, maybe everyone can do that because that is totally yummy!! :o)  Where do you stand?

6 comments:

  1. Oh my....definitely something to think about.

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  2. If I had to kill my own meat, I doubt I would have ever eaten any. I'm a real softy that way.


    New follower, glad I found your blog.

    Cheers!
    Michele Chastain

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  3. I think God gave us plants and animals for food, but when I was about 7 and watched my dad and grandpa butcher a cow, it definitely put me off eating meat for a few years! Whenever I tell my husband that I'd like to get sheep, my idea, unfortunately, is just to have them around as pets. (like something for my German Shepherd to herd). I would not want to have to kill and eat something I've named! I could eat a lot of black beans and rice instead. :-)

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  4. Oh wow, I can't imagine killing a chicken! I think I fall into the category of would become a vegetarian if I had to kill my own meat. Thanks for the thought provoking post!

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  5. I'm so happy I found your blog today. I've been a vegetarian for the past 12 years and could never imagine myself killing and then eating my own food, especially not when there are so many options available for non-meat eaters. There are so many benefits to being a vegetarian that I can't ever see myself going back.

    Great post, I'm your newest follower :)

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  6. Good Morning!

    I left a little something for you on my latest post. Hope you have a great week! Candace

    http://discoveringcandace.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-is-blog-of-substance-really.html

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