How would you feel right now if I shot you in the face and decided to cut up your leg, cook it and eat it for a snack? How would you feel if I kept your whole family in captivity, fed you, made you feel at home, then killed you all one by one just because that’s how good eating you made me feel? Now, I know that was a lot to digest (literally), but think of this from a chicken’s perspective. They live a trapped life not knowing that they all have the same fate—to be eaten by consumers. Now, my last question for a while, do you feel guilty? Or are you going to continue eating meat because you like the taste of flesh?

     As a young child, I saw my family as meat-eaters. For family events, or even being at school, I felt like I was forced to eat something that didn’t sit right with me. I know almost everyone is accustomed to the way meat tastes, but something about me chewing and eating another animal didn’t give me the appeal that it gives the daily meat-eater. So, as I got older, I stopped. Although I stopped eating poultry and red meat, I still ate fish because that’s what my household primarily eats, and if I’m being completely honest, I like the taste. (Call me a hypocrite; it’s okay.) So as I continued to educate myself on eating meat—how horrible it is for the environment, how it’s not needed for our bodies—I wondered, why as a society do we continue to eat meat? 

     Most meat-eaters’ first argument is “it’s survival to eat meat” like we’re still hunters and gatherers preying on animals because that’s the only option we have. We live in an advanced society with so many options for food, the pilgrims would cry and throw up if they saw what we were offered. Along with this, plant-based foods have shown to have an increase in popularity. We’re not like lions or wolves that need meat to survive. As omnivores, it’s not necessary. There is no need to eat meat anymore! 

     Another reason people claim they can’t go vegetarian is that “meat tastes too good.” Would you eat your dog? Most dog owners say no because it goes against their moral compass of having a pet. Still, others have said that dog meat tastes better than beef. So within the weird morals we have as humans, we choose not to eat our pets because we see them as ours, and we know they have their own thoughts, own feelings, and own emotions like humans. But, we will continue to eat other kinds of animals because we don’t have a connection with them. Do you see the hypocrisy within this logic? Now, I’m not saying eat your dog if you eat other animals, but if you are going to continue to eat meat, you need to admit to yourself the real reason behind it. 

     Humans are inherently selfish, with the way we eat, create relationships, have unhealthy habits, but especially in regards to consuming meat. If you choose to eat meat you are saying that you think you are better than the animals you eat. Okay, I know that’s a bold claim but let’s go over the things I’ve discussed in this article:

1. You eat meat because your selfish
2. We have so many other options to eat besides meat
3. You wouldn’t eat your dog (I hope)
4. You do it because you like the taste
5. We only eat meat because as a society we have become accustomed to doing so

     After reading the list, I hope you’ve calmed down a little! Now, back to the article. Within many things humans do, we believe we are better than other people, subconsciously. Whether that be the girl you hate in your advisory or your loud neighbors, we consider ourselves to be better. So another question, if you were in a forest and you just happened to have a gun, who would you shoot? the bear tackling an innocent man or the man who was fighting back. Most likely you picked the bear. Like I said earlier, we hold humans to a higher standard than other animals. So you’re more likely to eat an animal without thinking about its life than the next-door neighbor that you know well. 

     So what’s the point of me telling you this? We have to be conscious of our eating habits, and I know for me and the little time I have left on Earth, I’d like to help other people. I’d like to die knowing that I didn’t eat a chicken who could have lived a very good life. So what are you going to do? My hope after reading this is that the least you can do is just think, you don’t have to do, but think differently about how you eat. Because doing so, you could eat better. and you don’t have to think about that animal’s life you just wasted by eating it.