Al C.

You really want to know about me? Oh c'mon, I'm not that interesting. People often ask why I became a vegetarian. I have been for 2 1/2 years. Off and on for 18 years. It always creeped me out knowing where meat came from. My parents and grandparents are from the villages of China and it was like growing up on a farm where you raised & slaughtered your meat. I remember them bringing home live chickens & ducks that would end up being our meal. Even though they were the same things I normally ate then, I would refuse to eat it. Even as a child I would not eat anything that I've seen alive and still won't to this day. The thought of harming an innocent creature disturbs me. I won't even kill bugs or spiders that I find. Of course it's healthier & I'm very health concious. It'll probably make me live longer even though that is not what I want because I don't want to get old. I just chatted with a guy at the gym who has been a vegetarian for over 30 years. He's 62 and looks like he's in his mid-late 40s & in much better shape than most 30 year olds. Of course skin changes with age so I could tell that he was probably older than he looked but I still very surprised that he was 62. I hope to look that great when I'm that age. So I'm going to say my reasons are 25% compassion, 25% health, and 50% of it, pure vanity. Sure, some of my friends are going to say my reasons should be totally compassion. Yeah...whatever, in the grand scheme of things, it all comes out the same.

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