My Story of Veganism

I became a vegetarian when I was seven years old. Mom and I were sitting at the food court in the mall, eating the food we'd gotten from Arby's. I had a turkey sandwich, and she had a salad. I was enjoying my meal when I realized what she was eating. I asked, "Ewww, Mom, why are you eating a *salad*?" She said, "Holly, I've been thinking... isn't it sort of wrong to eat meat? I mean, people kill animals just so we can eat them. It seems sort of selfish, doesn't it?"

Animals? I had no idea I'd been eating REAL DEAD ANIMALS all these years! Bill Knapps always had cute names for their food like "The Elephant" and "The Hippo." I'd long since asked my parents if I was really eating elephants and hippos, and they'd said no! I thought chicken and turkey were just like the meals at Bill Knapps. Now that I knew what I was eating, I gagged, and pushed my turkey sandwich away. Even though I'd been eating turkey, the first thing I thought of were fish... like we kept at home in the aquarium. There was no way I'd eat meat ever again.

Mom and I seemed to be getting sick quite a bit after we became vegetarians. She'd miss days of work, I'd have to get out of school to go to the doctor's office... My dad and my grandma Z. said that we *needed* that meat, and that's why we were getting so sick. Actually, though, it turned out that my mom was having attacks from her Lupus, and I was allergic to dairy.

I was like, "Nooooooo! How am I going to eat pizza?! I won't get to drink milk anymore! What am I going to do?!" To make the transistion easier for me, Mom gave up dairy, too. We ate our pizza without cheese, and it actually wasn't that bad. Soon we subscribed to PETA, and got the internet. We learned what they do to those poor dairy cows, and we didn't even *want* the dairy.

I can't understand people who eat meat. My friends and family (except for my mom) are all carnivores, and they see no problem with it. Once I learned what I was eating, I felt sick. Why don't they? Mom and I show them the articles on how these animals are tortured, and put to death. Of course, they don't understand me either, for some reason.

In conclusion, I'd just like to say, EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Leather is gross, and I hate sitting on it in my dad's car!!!! GARRRRRRRRGH!

Okay. See ya next time.

--Holly the "Holy" Zintel ():-)