In regards to eating meat

[Monica]

And before anyone says: don't hang with those people, they are everywhere and I can isolate myself only so much.

Yeah the meat-eaters have to put up with the occasional obnoxious vegan, but no matter how you slice it, vegetarians have it much worse because we are the minority, and we have to put up with not only the occasional obnoxious 'John' but watching people contribute to the cruelty, on a daily basis. Every single day, we have to face all the McDonald's and steakhouses as we drive around town, we have to watch our families, co-workers and friends cut up and eat our other friends, and we have to keep our mouths shut. We can't isolate ourselves. So we have to just swallow it, every single day, all day long.

On top of that, we have to ignore all those billboards with the cutesy cows and pigs, advertising cooked cows and pigs, and the graphic display of animal parts on tv ads, magazine ads, etc. We have to put aside the burden of pain we feel when we drive past a feedlot or a truck full of pigs on their way to the slaughter, which we see alot here in Texas. We have to walk past the body parts in the grocery store, displayed there like a bizarre horror movie morgue. We have to smile politely when the lady in line next to us at the grocery store piles her bloody animal body parts right next to our tomatoes. We have to try to avoid the wet spots.

We have to pretend the stench of cooked flesh doesn't bother us when we're trying to enjoy our own meal when in restaurants. We have to put on a fake smile when our friends say, "Yum yum this juicy burger is soooo delicious" and immediately suppress our urge to remind them that that is a piece of a being who could think and feel pain.

We have to listen to all the ooohing and ahhhing over the Thanksgiving turkey, if we want to be with our family during the holidays. We don't get to enjoy our food, because the stench of baking turkey is so overpowering. But what does that matter? We vegetarians don't have the right to experience clean air. We must not only accept the 'choices' of those who eat animals, but we must endure the smell of burning flesh on a regular basis.

Is anyone aware of PTSD, that people experience after witnessing children getting burned or mutilated in a major catastrophe? We endure it every day. We have to harden ourselves to it, close our hearts to it, just in order to function.

I think, overall, vegetarians do pretty damn well. Considering how we feel about cruelty to animals, we bite our tongues most of the time. We're not allowed to say what we really feel. We must harden our hearts, toughen our natural feelings of compassion, and suppress our true feelings, in an ironic forced denial, just to exist on this planet. We have to swallow our convictions. We should get some credit for that.

If occasionally we allow ourselves to let our guard down, and forget to turn the suppressors online, well, please cut us a little slack.

Not that I am judging them--they are judging themselves, possibly

Precisely.

It is not about "fixing" anybody. Rather, it's about answering a cry of suffering.

Precisely.

Note: Post has been edited.