Happy October
the months are flying by!
Today is a World Day.
World
always stands out,
punching me in the face –
making me realise
the importance of
the day.
World Days are,
therefore, difficult to ignore!
Today’s World Day is…
World Vegetarian Day!
I have lived in countries,
where meat is stored carefully
on hot cement
blocks…
where meat is protected from flies
by an occasional flick of a hand…
or,
more elaborative,
the slowly rotating, man-made device,
which is hung above the
meat
and drips plastic bags…
scaring the flies away.
I’ve walked past bowls of
fish,
eels and crabs, slowly flicking
in shallow water…
and yet, my stomach
coped with every meal…
Well…there was that one time…
In an Irish Pub in Bangkok.
I was having
Irish stew –
as you do…
Lamb, it was.
There were huge chunks of tender lamb,
filling my bowl of stew.
It was good.
And then, it happened.
I pictured a
buffalo –
something I saw every day
when I lived in the North East of Thailand.
The buffalo tends to have a huge,
round stomach.
I pictured someone with a huge
knife,
slicing the side of a buffalo a
nd turning the flesh
into chunks of meat
for my stew.
Right then and there,
my stew lost all appeal.
That was years ago…
and, don’t get me wrong –
I eat meat.
I do.
But, sometimes, every now and again…
I picture the animal I am eating…
Not the "cute little lamb",
but the knife -
chunking the flesh…
I lose my appetite a little.
Once, a young boy came to me
and told me he had cut
his leg on a seat.
“Show me”, I said…
and watched him
twist his knee
to show me a small hole in the skin.
Something yellow was poking
out –
Muscle? Sinew? Fat?
There was no
blood.
It seemed ok…
and then, it happened.
The blood started.
It didn’t
trickle…
it didn’t dribble…
It pumped.
Squirt.
Squirt.
Squirt.
It was the smell
that got to me.
Bloody flesh.
The smell lingered in my nostrils
for some time.
I
t’s a butcher shop smell.
It’s not a good smell for me.
So, today is World
Vegetarian Day.
The site has facts and figures…
forests and bushland turned into crops
to feed the animals we will later eat…
overgrazing and the damage it does…
animals and plants becoming endangered
through habitat loss…
water costs of
animal rearing…
increased carbon monoxide…
All that aside,
the thing that pushes me
towards my vegetarian diet
is my imagination!
the North American Vegetarian Society’s
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