I had been trying to be a vegetarian, as far as I can remember, since the year 2000. My friend recently recalled that I mentioned to him while he was visiting me in the hospital that I would like to become a vegetarian. Later, I started practising it in 2001 during the study for my Certified Financial Analyst (CFA) Level 1 exam, in the hope that the good merit would help me to pass the tough test. However, given the reality in my life, work exposure, availability of vegetarian food and preparation, it was not easy for me to totally become one on a permanent basis. I remember that after the exam over, I started eating meat again. Having said that, most of the time I would try to avoid eating "big animals", i.e. beef and pork, or red meat. The reason for me to avoid eating meat was still mixed between health concern and ethical issue. In the past few years, I had been a vegetarian on and off, most of the time was to create merits for myself and on behalf of my grandparents who were ill, hopefully that it would help make them get better.
Two months ago, I wanted to catch on with the Eat Pray Love fever, which was already faded (this is what always happens to me: After the fad subsides, it's my time to get all excited about it and want to try it out. Another time happened was with bubble tea fad). Thus I have decided to buy the book and read through. Elizabeth Gilbert, the author, in her battle against deep depression after her ugly divorce, mentioned that she stopped eating meat (for a short time) after someone told her that she was "eating the fear of the animal at the moment of its death". This line really struck me. It clearly gave me the picture of a cow struggling for his life in a slaughterhouse. It made me become a vegetarian again. This time I really hope I can be strong enough to do it in long term.
Let's take a look at some statistics. How many people around you are vegetarians ? According to Raw-Food-Health.net, in England, vegetarianism got a huge boost from the mad cow scare. According to a 2006 Mintel survey, 6 percent of the population, or 3.6 million people, are vegetarians, and 10 percent eat no red meat. This likely makes the UK the european country with the largest proportion of its population that is vegetarian.
The website also revealed, in the 2008, "Vegetarianism in America" study, published by the Vegetarian Times Magazine, puts the number of U.S. adult vegetarians at 7.3 million, or 3.2 percent of the population. Moving to Asia, India holds more vegetarians than the rest of the world combined.
A 2006 survey by the Hindu newspaper found that 40 percent of the population, or 399 million people, are vegetarians. This is mostly driven by class and religious concerns, with the Brahmin class expected to not eat meat, the Hindu religion suggesting vegetarianism and the Jain religion demanding it.
What the history says about vegetarianism ? According to Wikipedia, even though the Vegetarian Society was firstly founded in UK in 1847, the vegetarianism dated back long before this organization. Vegetarianism in the Romantic Period, during the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries believed to become widespread and have been impacted by views on humanism in this Age of Enlightenment. With this new "enlightenment" came new reflections on how members of the human race were to treat each other and also their animal brethren. According to John Locke, direct observation of animals during this period allowed for humans to realize that animals too could communicate, feel pain, and perhaps even feel emotion. With this newfound realization, rooted in Enlightenment values of humanitarianism, mankind began to see fewer differences separating them and the beasts. Humans, led by Locke, started to believe that animals and humans were interconnected in some way, and therefore, if man was unkind toward animals he would also be unkind towards his fellow man. With such principles in mind, vegetarianism became the proper response, one fueled by both humanitarianism and compassion.
Nevertheless, there are so many different reasons for people to become a vegetarian. If you ask fellow vegetarians, you will certainly get different answers. Some think it's a healthier choice as there're numbers of animal-to-human transmitted diseases e.g. salmonella from chicken, bovine leukemia from cows, anthrax from cattles, H5N1 influenza from winged animals, or the recent E. coli outbreak in Europe. Some prefer not to eat meat for longevity reason as meat consumption, according to several researches, leads to heart disease and other illnesses. For environmental activists, pollutions from slaughterhouses and process of meat production are their concern and reason not to eat meat and its products.
To me, and let me emphasize here, I am not a great person, the reason for me to become a vegetarian is because I do not want to support killing of animals and turn them to become human's food. Even though humans are omnivores, as we learned from our Physiology lessons, based on our ability to digest meat as well as plants and vegetables, we still have other choices besides killing for food. There is this lady that I know, named Lilly, who works in animal welfare, once said "we are very fortunate to be placed on the very top of the food chain, but it doesn't mean that we take this opportunity to kill animals for food or to abuse or treat them anyway we wish". Actually I think we do not have any rights at all to harm them in any form, no matter what we have come up with: with our bared hands to blunt weapons to sophisticated farming technology. Think about it. They cannot fight back as much as we can attack them in a more cruel way only to enjoy the taste of their meat.
A Princeton University professor and founder of the animal liberation movement, Peter Singer, in Ethics of killing for food, believes that if alternative means of survival exist, one ought to choose the option that does not cause unnecessary harm to animals. Most ethical vegetarians argue that the same reasons exist against killing animals to eat as against killing humans to eat. Singer, in his book Animal Liberation listed possible qualities of sentience in non-human creatures that gave such creatures the scope to be considered under utilitarian ethics, and this has been widely referenced by animal rights campaigners and vegetarians. Ethical vegetarians also believe that killing an animal, like killing a human, can only be justified in extreme circumstances and that consuming a living creature for its enjoyable taste, convenience, or nutritional value is not sufficient cause. Another common view is that humans are morally conscious of their behaviour in a way other animals are not, and therefore subject to higher standards.
Eventually, I believe it all boils down to basic economics principle: demand and supply. If we can cut down the demand in meat consumption, there would be less work for slaughterhouses, and less number of poor animals will be raised to be killed. Think of them as our fellow animals who share the planet with us. Let's live together in harmony.
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