In regards to eating meat

[Monica]

Ya know, Monica…I guess I was just being thin skinned. Its kind of reversed, I suppose. When the vegetarian attends a get together and himself / herself the topic of commentary in an otherwise omnivorous crowd? And then I step into a crowd of vegetarians, lolol.

Thank you for understanding! Yes, this is what we vegetarians deal with all the time: being outnumbered and even ganged up on.

Some years ago, some of my former co-workers went out to lunch and brought back some beef tips. As I happened to walk by their table, they asked me if I wanted the beef. I smiled politely and said, "No thank you, I am a vegetarian."

Well, they then all pounced! Rather than showing respect for my choice, they began teasing and taunting me. They made comments about my dogs eating better than I did...called me a 'tree hugger' with disdain...and laughed and laughed.

There were about 8 of them. I finally lost it and told them that if we had more tree huggers, the world would be a better place. I don't remember what else I said, but I got upset. It was discrimination and harassment. i later spoke to one of them one-on-one, and explained that their ridicule of my lifestyle choice was no different from someone ridiculing another person for their race, religion, or sexual orientation.

The co-worker was startled at the comparison. He had never thought of it that way. To him, diet was so...ordinary. It had never occurred to him that diet could be part of a spiritual or ethical conviction. Once I explained to him that my diet was part of my spirituality, he showed more respect.

But I shouldn't have had to do that. Why couldn't I be respected for my choice, even if it were just a personal choice?

At that same office, one of the women made it her mission to get me to eat meat and candy. She would leave candy on my desk. I told her she might as well leave rocks - I wasn't being tempted! She told me I was 'too extreme' for not eating meat or sugar. She kept trying to 'tempt' me and did not grasp that I truly was no more tempted to eat a piece of candy than I was a rock, and that meat was actually repulsive to me.

I never told her she should become a vegetarian. I never told any of them that. I was harassed and ridiculed just for being who I was.

So yeah, I do want to raise awareness. And if a few vegetarians gather on 1 or 2 threads on an otherwise meat-eater-dominated discussion forum, I hope that everyone will understand that we have feelings too, and it's important to us to be able to express those feelings, just as others express theirs. We're a minority. We haven't experienced discrimination to the degree that minority ethnicities have, but it is discrimination nonetheless. I thank everyone for your patience and understanding.