A thought on vegetarian life.

I had tried to go vegetarian in my early twenties. The whole idea of animals being killed for my diner didn't sit right with me.
I'm revisiting the whole idea again, after a friend told me to watch a pretty little video of slaughter house action. Lovely. If your curious, check out Peta's website, meet your meat.
I pledged to 30 days of meat-less-ness.

I grew up with chickens and Pigeons. Not for eating the birds but the chickens were for the eggs. The Pigeons were just cool.
We at one point had a piglet, who we named "pinky" in the basement, with no lights and a small confined area about 3 ft around. At the age of 5 or 6, I didn't know why we weren't allowed to play with him, but we snuck in there and played anyhow.
Pinky ended up on our diner table. I don't think that I would have chosen to eat my friend, if I had the choice.
My parents grew up over seas in rural areas, where they were taught that this was the norm. You can rest assured, that I will not subject my kids to this behavior. I will not follow in the footsteps that I detest. After watching the video, I'm not so sure that I will force my kids to eat any meat either.
But I will start checking into farms that are free roaming, vaccine and veterinary caring, organic and other things. This would be a good time to research this fully. I am a mother, and like many other mothers, want what is best for my children. I will be happy to share my findings with you.
I had another friend who suggested that some meat packagers actually dyed their meat to make it look better, and more palatable. I did a little bit of research on this and found this to be somewhat true. Packagers can dye meat that is ground, for purposes such as sausages, cold cuts, burgers and hot dogs. Packagers can also use carbon dioxide to keep meat looking fresh longer.
My friend mentioned that her daughter is allergic to certain food dyes, and I talked a bit about how we changed our oldest son's diet to minimize dye exposure.
The minimizing has had a great effect. He can focus better in school and at home. Which I am extremely thankful for!
My first meal for day one without meat, was egg noodles with white asparagus and Brussels sprouts (aka green globs of evil). I never did like them but my kids do, and that's good! Since I didn't make dinner tonight I had no choice in menu. I ate the Pierogies and the carrots ~not the pork chops.
While I continue to research the whole vegetarian life, I will share my bits and pieces with you. Especially what my vegetarian pediatrician has to say. At the very least I will be educated in matters of consumption.