Some people are tired of being told what to do. Picture credit: Montecruz Foto - CC0
I have met many vegetarians and vegans, many of them very open to other people having a different approach to food. My desk-buddy at work is a vegan and we get along perfectly fine. I asked her the other day why is she vegetarian. “I just think it’s healthier,” she told me.
For her that’s one reason. Other people do it because they consider it better for the environment. Let me just say that I do think that excessive livestock farming is harmful to the environment. There are numerous studies that can prove it and I do not doubt it in any way.
But I also don’t doubt the fact that humans are meat eaters by nature since the beginning of our kind. We are genetically programmed to need meat in order to survive. I experienced that firsthand.
A few years ago I was diagnosed with Iron-Deficiency Anaemia. Back then I didn’t eat much - I particularly hated meat, purely because of taste preference. I did not label myself as a vegetarian, I didn’t consider myself one. I just did not like eating meat. I almost fainted when the doctor suggested I had to eat animal’s LIVER. This was one of the few times I turned green in the face.
Since then I had on several occasions encountered people, who tried to tell me that I am a bad person and I don’t care about animals and the environment. Others were nicer and just dropped subtle hints here and there that they do not agree with my lifestyle.
I support open-mindedness and the right of the individual to have an opinion. I don’t support ignorance or prejudiced judging without the facts.
Pavlena Todorova