Jain Digest 1997 04

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 13

Vegging Out!
Tou want to be a what? both of my parents exclaimed at once.
They set down their forks and almost in unison as their jaws
dropped. "A vegetarian. I want to be a vegetarian," I repeated calmly. Then came the onslaught of questions, warnings and predictions."
"What on earth are you thinking?" "You'll never get enough nutrients."
"This won't last more than a week. Remember when you wanted to be a ballerina."
My mother declared I couldn't stay away from meat forever. My father swore I'd be in the hospital from malnutrition.
I decided to become vegetarian when I saw a TV program that shocked me. It was a story about factory farms - a term used to describe the setting in which animals are raised for food.
Most people don't think about where their food comes from. They think of beef or chicken as something akin to broccoli or pasta: just another item on their dinner plate. Unfortunately, chickens and cows don't grow in gardens.
Many animals are raised in confinement, and are kept indoors most of the time except for the trip from the factory farm to the slaughterhouse. Birds are raised in cages that are very crowded. The crowded, stressed birds are debeaked with a hot blade to prevent
them form pecking each other to death.
When I decided to go meatless I got a lot of hassle, but it has been worth it. I have learned to be an individual, no longer concerned about wearing the exact same shirt or having the exact same haircut or chewing the same kind of gum as my classmates. Being a vegetarian has washed away the camouflage. I wasn't the same anymore, and I found out how much better it was.
I started to think a lot about how great it would be to have a club at school for vegetarians and animal rights advocates. So I started "RAVE" - "Rights of Animals for a Vegetarian Earth." Through RAVE I have met other vegetarians my own age and found out I was not alone in my quest.
Becoming a vegetarian has certainly changed my life. Some of my friends roll their eyes and call me "picky" when I don't want my pizza with pepperoni and everyone else does. But none of this matters because I know I have made the right choice.
Lindsay Starr Muscato, has been a vegetarian for a year and is a junior at Clarence Senior High School, Clarence, NY you may write to her about RAVE at: Clarence Senior High School, 9625 Main Street, Clarence, NY 14031. This article was adapted from a article she wrote for the NeXt section of The Buffalo News, December 3, 1996.
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March 1997 Jain Education Intemational
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