Clarke 1

Alex Clarke

Mrs. Weston

English 4: Expository Reading & Writing, Period 5

27 August, 2008

Vegetarianism

A personal issue that is important to me would have to be vegetarianism. Last year I took

Journalism and I met a wonderful person named, Frankie and we partnered up for a documentary

assignment. She explained to me how vegetarianism was important to her and how she does not

approve of the way the animals or the factory workers are treated in the meat packing industry.

Her determination was admirable and inspiring. Therefore, she influenced me to become a

vegetarian when our group decided to go vegetarian for one week to research for our project. The

week turned out successfully, while the rest of our group went back to eating meat, I stuck with

eating the vegetarian meals. Then I decided to become a vegetarian permanently.

Something that bothered me when I became vegetarian was that Frankie showed me a

video when we worked on the documentary and it contained some facts that the media did not

want to broadcast. For instance, the pigs, cows, chickens, ducks and fish which are slaughtered

are in constant pain. Each one of those animals, except the fish and ducks, are genetically

manipulated and pumped full of drugs to induce reproduction and even the calves are not spared.

I found that information repulsive. The pigs and cows are fatted up before hand and then they are

hanged. To me, animals have rights as well as humans. These are some of the major reasons I

became a vegetarian because I believe that this is animal cruelty and I do not support or

encourage it. Furthermore, all animal fats are unhealthy for us and by avoiding them, I can work

towards improving my health.

Clarke 2

Something else that I learned by watching the video that bothered me is that the

employees are not treated very well either. They work for minimum wage and they work near

machines that can be deadly. The majority of the workers are illegal immigrants. Some of them

lose limbs, and the conditions looked unsafe to me. The majority of people think that

Vegetarians do not get enough protein but I did some research and I found that there are soy

protein products such as breakfast bars, veggie sausage and soy protein nuggets which contain

protein.

Before I met Frankie, I had thought about going vegetarian but I could not find the

willpower to stop eating meat. As soon as we started this assignment, she encouraged me to do it.

I do not regret my decision to stop eating meat. This has been the best choice for me, because I

will look and feel better overtime while also standing up for what I believe; not to take any life,

especially in ways which are cruel.