Why Vegetarianism? | Teen Ink

Why Vegetarianism?

February 7, 2010
By alayapoetgirl BRONZE, St. Louis, Missouri
alayapoetgirl BRONZE, St. Louis, Missouri
4 articles 0 photos 92 comments

Favorite Quote:
Life is hard; but it's harder if you're stupid. -John Wayne


I bet the cows scream inside when the butcher slices her throat. And the turkeys squeal when they are dropped into hot water 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Or how about the male pigs when they are getting their testicles ripped out without painkillers. Not to mention the conditions these animals live under in factories.


So why, why do we do this. Is it for our daily portion of meats, or is it for our own selfish endeavors? Either way it isn’t fair. We take control of living beings with hearts, feelings, and souls. Oh and what about the milk that “strengthens our bones and teeth?” Do we let pigs drink human breast milk? No, we don’t, so why are we drinking the milk that belongs to the calves? All of the questions only lead to one solution, vegetarianism.


Vegetarianism should be a ‘must do’ in America. We shouldn’t be breeding then eating our precious animals. We should be saving their lives and eating healthy. It is proven fact that the human digestive system was never fit to digest meat. Now a day so much red meat has harmful chemicals and toxins. So why do we even include it in our daily diet? I wonder if a parent would feed their child a cheeseburger if they knew it had chemicals in it, from steroids that were injected in that cow, to effectively speed up the growth process. This is exactly why the new generation’s grow rates are exponentially higher than ever before. This is also probably where all of these rare diseases are coming from.


I believe in my heart that everyone should go vegetarian. Extend your life by eating well, it’s for our own goods. Sure, we talk about having healthier futures, but how can we set a good example for newer generations when we are the generation that settles for less. We must step up before we are too late.


Vegetarianism offers the opportunity to save animals while maintaining, sustaining, and extending our lives. So why are we still waiting at home, at the dinner table cutting the steak that we plan to scarf down; or at McDonalds ordering a McChicken from the dollar menu? Perhaps the fried chicken is irresistible. However, maybe next time we visit the grocery store, we’ll think for more than just ourselves.


The author's comments:
I especially like this piece, because it expresses my feelings about being a vegetarian, not just for ourselves but for the animals' sake too.

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This article has 15 comments.


PandaCorn said...
on May. 13 2015 at 7:31 pm
this helped me a lot on convincing my parents to let me become a vegetarian. Thanks a lot. :D

Laserwraith said...
on Sep. 20 2010 at 9:29 am

Only humans have souls.  

Or, what would you say if I said plants feel bad about being eaten?


on Sep. 5 2010 at 1:28 pm
MadisonReneeJane GOLD, Norman, Oklahoma
12 articles 5 photos 22 comments

Favorite Quote:
The walls we build around us to keep out the sadness also keep out the joy. - Jim Rohn

If we don't eat animals, what purpose will they have? Anyways, animals eat each other. No matter what, animal cruelity will never cease to exist.

on Sep. 4 2010 at 6:27 pm
alayapoetgirl BRONZE, St. Louis, Missouri
4 articles 0 photos 92 comments

Favorite Quote:
Life is hard; but it's harder if you're stupid. -John Wayne

thank you for the input. (=

on Apr. 26 2010 at 4:31 pm
skywitch BRONZE, Salem, Massachusetts
1 article 2 photos 36 comments

Favorite Quote:
~ A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it.~ Agent K<br /> Men In Black

Let me start off by saying very good essay!

I also believe that the conditions that these animals are in is harsh. But I think that if we let all these things on their own they would die off, ether by over hunting or they wouldn't be able to support themselves. I think that there should be a compromise. I think that we should farm raise most of the animals that we eat but we should give them better conditions. Let the fish interact with other fish, give the cows some more elbow room.

I Believe that we should farm raise animals because (unfortunately) our nation is growing, and most people will not be willing to give up meat. So we need more food. But thats a whole other matter.


on Apr. 26 2010 at 2:59 am
Wolf_Howl BRONZE, Sugar Land, Texas
3 articles 6 photos 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
Lovely essay; dripping with pathos and missing the strong flavor of logos. <br /> <br /> Sorry, but such an essay fails to move me. I just submitted an essay today about Animal Rights and why is is wrong, so hopefully that will be submitted and prevent me from having to explain everything here. <br /> <br /> Anyway, do you have any source that says that people aren&#039;t made to eat meat? Because, while I have heard it before, I have never seen any such proof of this claim. Let&#039;s say your claim is true, please then, explain why we - humans - have hydrochloric acid in our stomachs - something herbivores lack? Or how about why we have protruding canines like that of many carnivores? And if you want to go the path of evolution, we did evolve from primates; the closest relative to us by up to 96 percent of the same DNA is the chimpanzee, which have strongly protruded canines (as well as being omnivorous like humans).<br /> <br /> Lastly, I think PETA is a complete fallacy. How can they be pushing for the &#039;ethical&#039; treatment of animals if they don&#039;t first care about mankind? My favorite quote noted from PETA is: &rsquo;[PETA] would rather have medical experiments done on our children than on animals&#039;, which is a close second to &#039;if animal test produced a cure for AIDS, [PETA] would be against it.&#039; I honestly don&#039;t think I need to even comment about these quotes; they tell the message themselves. <br /> <br /> Anyway, I do so hope that your vegetarianism goes well, but I also hope you realize how weak your argument is and how Animal Rights are not logically possible. I will link my essay once it is submitted for you to look over if you wish. <br /> <br /> Farewell, <br /> <br /> Wolf<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> P.S. I date a vegetarian. ;P

Lovely essay; dripping with pathos and missing the strong flavor of logos. 

Sorry, but such an essay fails to move me. I just submitted an essay today about Animal Rights and why is is wrong, so hopefully that will be submitted and prevent me from having to explain everything here. 

Anyway, do you have any source that says that people aren't made to eat meat? Because, while I have heard it before, I have never seen any such proof of this claim. Let's say your claim is true, please then, explain why we - humans - have hydrochloric acid in our stomachs - something herbivores lack? Or how about why we have protruding canines like that of many carnivores? And if you want to go the path of evolution, we did evolve from primates; the closest relative to us by up to 96 percent of the same DNA is the chimpanzee, which have strongly protruded canines (as well as being omnivorous like humans).

Lastly, I think PETA is a complete fallacy. How can they be pushing for the 'ethical' treatment of animals if they don't first care about mankind? My favorite quote noted from PETA is: ’[PETA] would rather have medical experiments done on our children than on animals', which is a close second to 'if animal test produced a cure for AIDS, [PETA] would be against it.' I honestly don't think I need to even comment about these quotes; they tell the message themselves. 

Anyway, I do so hope that your vegetarianism goes well, but I also hope you realize how weak your argument is and how Animal Rights are not logically possible. I will link my essay once it is submitted for you to look over if you wish. 

Farewell, 

Wolf

 

P.S. I date a vegetarian. ;P


on Apr. 15 2010 at 9:23 pm
alayapoetgirl BRONZE, St. Louis, Missouri
4 articles 0 photos 92 comments

Favorite Quote:
Life is hard; but it&#039;s harder if you&#039;re stupid. -John Wayne

Thank you for the support! I totally understand where you're coming from...

on Apr. 15 2010 at 9:21 pm
alayapoetgirl BRONZE, St. Louis, Missouri
4 articles 0 photos 92 comments

Favorite Quote:
Life is hard; but it&#039;s harder if you&#039;re stupid. -John Wayne

This is very true. (The availability of foods in different countries isn't always the same everywhere.) You make a good point. Sure people in third world countries kill animals and eat them...but not the way us Americans do. And becoming a vegetarian isn't all about the animals either, don't get me wrong. It's about being healthy, and so many people think meat is vital and you can't get your iron etc. anywhere else. I think people need to get a better understanding of what becoming a vegetarian is and what it means. Its means living a healthier lifestyle. So maybe that won't happen everywhere but America definitely has the availability of the right food sources for becoming a vegetarian.

on Apr. 11 2010 at 10:48 am
ElisabethElizzLiz BRONZE, Brookpark, Ohio
2 articles 0 photos 15 comments

Favorite Quote:
Love is the flower you&#039;ve got to let grow.<br /> -John Lennon

I'm a vegitarian and i totally agree with you. Vegitarians save lives and in turn, are saving the planet. I constantly get the "but God put animals on this earth to eat" comment. And people considering becoming vegitarian don't get enough support from their friends and family, in my opinion, which is why a lot of people give up after a few days. I'm a member of PETA and a proud vegitarian of only 4 months but I'm still going strong and am in it for the long run. Thank you for writing this article.

on Apr. 5 2010 at 8:42 am
RenaissanceMan SILVER, Westland, Michigan
7 articles 0 photos 14 comments

Favorite Quote:
I was born. It was born. So it began. It continues. It will outlive me. People whisper, stare, giggle. Their eternal privilege. My eternal curse-Joyce Carol Oates

Although I am religious, for the sake of this argument I won't include those views. Now, I'm not a vegetarian and I enjoy eating meat. I'm aware of the fact that not all of it is healthy and I do try to cut back somewhat. But that's beside the point. I don't condone animal torture for the sake of packaging meat for humans to eat. I believe animals have rights as well, and that if they are used for food, their deaths should be as humane and painless as possible. But animals are an important part of the life of a human. Not all people have the availability of herbs or plants. They have to eat what's around them-and in many cases that turns out to be an animal. You have to look at the bigger picture, not just the people in countries such as ours, where we eat meat because we have the privilege. Look i third-world countries and compare their availability of food to ours. You may be astonished to discover that they have very little to eat, and in this case animals may be their only link to life.

on Mar. 29 2010 at 1:40 pm
alayapoetgirl BRONZE, St. Louis, Missouri
4 articles 0 photos 92 comments

Favorite Quote:
Life is hard; but it&#039;s harder if you&#039;re stupid. -John Wayne

Sure, they say God put animals on this earth to eat, or if thats what you think. But is it really fair to kill them in the way we do. Is that the only purpose for animals? For us to enjoy them through eating? I'm not so sure about that. I mean look at these factories that are allowing these "innocent" animals to live in filthy conditions, maybe not all but most. Now you can't tell me there's nothing wrong with that!

on Mar. 28 2010 at 4:27 pm

the milk we get from cows is not stealing from their babies, it's like eating chicken eggs (unfertilized, of course.)

and god put animals on this earth for us to survive. you inferred that all animals are equal when you said that its unfair for us to take cow milk (which its not) so if we have to give up meat, then all animals should have to. and then we would all die. dont mess with the well balanced food chain. if people want to be vegetarians they will, don't try to change the world though.


Cesare GOLD said...
on Mar. 9 2010 at 7:57 pm
Cesare GOLD, Sacramento, California
16 articles 0 photos 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
Do you know the only value life has is what life puts upon itself? And it is of course overestimated, since it is of necessity prejudiced in its own favor. [You] do not lose anything, for with the loss of yourself, you lose the knowledge of loss.

I like where you're going with this. Perhaps you should address more of the opposition, and go into depth about the reasons that why we're doing is wrong, compared to what it does for us.

on Feb. 19 2010 at 3:38 pm
emster7013 BRONZE, Oshtemo, Michigan
2 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. <br /> -Buddha

Wow this is really great i like it

and thanks for commenting on my article thing

on Feb. 16 2010 at 7:57 am
pampalooga PLATINUM, Natick, Massachusetts
30 articles 0 photos 20 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;We all can&#039;t be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the sides and clap as they go by.&quot; &quot;In the end, they&#039;re just more words.&quot;

Awesome! this gave me a whole new look on being a vegetarian. very persuasive. loved the last part of McDonalds.