Teasing

[Guest guest]

That does sound rough! I'm very grateful that my family has always been

supportive of each other. My parents were always there for us no matter

what our life decisions were. They respected, & still do, respect our

beliefs. None of us would put each other down for anything, unless it

was illegal of course. I'm sorry you've been through so much. Vicki

 

Message: 12

Sat, 21 Oct 2000 11:26:45 -0400

" aphrodite " <aphrodite

Re: teasing

 

You are not alone. I have been a veg for 10 years now, a lacto-ovo (

have dairy if it is in

bread i am eating, or if i am at a resteraunt and there is a tiny bit of

cheese they can't leave

off; i eat free range organic eggs on rare occasion).

when i first decided to become a vegetarian at the age of 14 it was

because my friend and i

were eating these big italian hoagies and as we were eating them i

starting trying to figure

out what animal all the meat came from. the more i looked at the

sandwich the slower i

chewed and then i just felt ill. i threw it away and told my mom i

would never eat animal

again. of course it was " just a phase. " that is what my family called

it for the first 4 years.

in those years i faced ridicule and negativity from my friends and

family, no support

whatsoever. i was raised in a big meat eating family, bowl of ice cream

every night kind of

a house, and here i was saying, hey, you know what? this is wrong, and

i am not going to

do this anymore. in reflection i think maybe they were a little

uncomfortable with the fact

that they knew i felt what they were doing was immoral. i never said

so, but that is how i

felt, and they knew it.

we would sit at dinner and my brother would put chicken wings in my face

and make

clucking noises. my dad would make mmmmmm noises as he happily chewed

his rare

steaks. and i was told to cook for myself since i wasn't good enough to

eat the family

dinners. i paid for my own food, and because there " wasn't enough room

in the

refrigerator for all that health food " i got a cooler that i kept in my

room. now, i know all

of this seems cruel, and i hate to make my family sound like ogres. but

people get a little

funny sometimes when they are afraid of what they don't know.

-- The punishment for animal torturers/abusers should be exactly what

they did to the animal.