A Better Choice
Gandhi once wrote, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progresses can be judged by the ways its animals are treated." Millions of people claim to be animal lovers, but still allow animals to be killed at the expense of their appetite. If more people became vegetarians many animals' lives would be spared. Being a vegetarian not only benefits animals being brutally killed, but also people living healthier lifestyles.
I became a vegetarian after doing a research paper on slaughterhouses for my senior English class. It has been almost two years since I made the decision to stop contributing to the murdering of helpless animals. I have loved animals for as long as I can remember. There is not a time in my life where I did not have a dog, cat, hamster, bird or something living in my house. After seeing pictures and reading about slaughterhouses I was disgusted. Every time I thought about eating meat, pictures of suffering cows appeared in my head, and it was impossible to eat. I was nauseated by the fact that I had been unaware of what was happening behind closed walls for so long.
Very few people think about where the meat from the hamburgers, steaks, stews, hams, or chickens came from. The Vegetarian Youth Network states that, about 7 billion animals die or are slaughtered each year to produce food in the U.S. Most people turn their heads at the thought of screaming, hanging animals being ripped open, and gutted while still alive. People do not realize that the delicious cheeseburger they are eating came from a cow crying out in pain just a few days before. Slaughterhouse animals are not just mistreated minutes before death. There are slaughterhouse farms, where animals are not fed for days, and often cramped in little spaces. The Vegetarian Youth Network adds that, millions of animals die before even arriving at slaughterhouses.
Becoming a vegetarian goes beyond just saving animals. The National Cancer Research...
View Full Essay
