Good Bye Meat! Hello Healthy Vegetarian Eating!
I’ve been a carnivore ever since I was little. As I grew up, my parents adopted a vegetarian diet, because the temple they attended promoted a healthier vegetarian diet for Maitreya Tao members. Since then, my mom would only cook vegetables at home. Even so, they did not restrict my sibling and me from eating meat outside of our home. They believed that we must choose the diet we want for our own future.
I have to say my mom’s cooking is good and is greatly appreciated by many relatives who love to eat nothing but meat. Every time they came to our house for gatherings, they were amazed by the variety of food choices that vegetarians enjoy!
As I got older and began to understand Maitreya Great Tao lectures, I learned that a vegetarian diet could really save animals and make our environment a better place to live! I started eating less and less meat whenever I dined out. I did not really recognize any difference in myself until one day some friends came to me and said, “Jamie, how is it that you look prettier and your body is not as chubby as before?” I didn’t know what to say, I had thought it was because of my transformation from a girl to a woman.
One day my mom took me to a morning market. It was an ordinary day and the market was full of people picking vegetables and buying meat. As Mom and I passed a meat shop, I almost puked when an awful smell floated into my nose. I turned and saw pools of blood on the ground and many dead chickens hanging upside down with their throats cut open and flies buzzing around them. It was a horrible scene! We passed some more fish shops and more meat shops, the smell was just too much for me to handle and my mom and I made a quick escape. After that, whenever I saw meat I would imagine the awful bloody smell surrounding me! I decided not to eat meat anymore!
Years later, my family immigrated to the beautiful country, Canada! We found interesting vegetables in the supermarkets! It was just so wonderful to see that the earth has provided us with a variety of food resources! One day at school, I attended my favorite computer class which was held after lunch. The main reason I loved this computer class was that my teacher was a handsome and charming person! His humor and cheerful personality were assets to his teaching! Everyone liked him a lot! Once we were assigned to move pictures on our computer. As I was having some difficulties with the task, I asked my teacher to help me. As soon as he sat down beside me and started talking, I almost stopped breathing. Not due to his charming appearance, but because of the horrible smell coming from his body and mouth! It was as if there was dead and rotten meat hanging around his body. I could barely pay attention, because I had to hold my breath till I turned blue! Another student came to ask him something, and both of them had the same meaty smell! At that moment, I recalled a lecture on vegetarianism given by a Tao member who spoke about how a meat-based diet tend to give an odor to the human body, while a vegetarian diet gave fewer odors to the human body.
Since then, I am a happy vegetarian. I am grateful that I’ve chosen the right diet for myself. I cannot say that I’m doing a lot for the world we live in, but I can proudly say that at least I live with good conscience. No lives are sacrificed because of my diet.
JCmile – Canada