November 12th, 2024
Do you want to hear something super annoying?
I’ve been a vegetarian for a week.
Am I going to try to convince you to join me? Heck no. Do I still want to talk about it? You bet.
Here’s what happened.
You all know I love animals. So dang much. I got it from my mama. Out of my 13 published books, 4 of them are about animals, and all 13 feature them. (If you’ve read my short story The New Romantics in the Otherworldly anthology, you know what that’s all about, too.)
I have been conflicted about meat since the moment I learned where it came from. Which isn’t to say I don’t love it. There isn’t anything like a good burger or chicken wing. But eating it hurts my heart, in more ways than one.
Last week, I got an assignment for Composition class: watch the Netflix documentary The Game Changers. And change my game it did, y’all.
I can’t unsee it or unthink it: we’re not meant to eat meat. As you learn the reasons why, it all makes sense in a way that will make you want to scream like a goat. Combined with everything else I’ve learned in my Environmental Science class this semester, I was KO’d.
For a long time now, I have had meat-free days. One day at a time, I’ll refuse to eat animals. I know any kind of abstinence is helpful to our health and the planet.
But the movie radicalized me, so I’ve been eating like a herbivore and, honestly, it’s not so bad! My energy levels are legit (you saw me at con), I’m finding fun foods to eat, and I feel better — physically, sure, but emotionally and spiritually, too.
I’m still doing by-products. I love honey and butter and nobody has convincingly argued that cows do not like being milked.
Going forward, I do forsee a little more balance. I don’t think I’ve eaten my last piece of meat. Maybe I’ll shift to meat once or twice a week. I’ve read counter-arguments to the evidence presented in Game Changers and criticism of its biases, and some of it is more credible than others.
But I would LOVE it if some of you gave the film a watch (or maybe you already have!) and let me know what you think. It did a really good job of appealing to my scientific and logical side, but also to the emotional, hypocritical monster that dwells and mopes inside of me.
If you need me, I’ll be outside on your lawn, eating grass with the wild rabbits. I am so sorry for being so annoying.
The Den 