Narrative Final Essay I had always been an avid carnivore, never really thinking about where my meat came from and never putting much thought into it. If I were to go to a restaurant I would always order the steak, chicken, any meaty substance I could acquire. I was this person up until about two years ago. I was handed a brochure about animal cruelty and it contained a lot of enlightening information about animal treatment in the food industry. I did more research on my own and felt disgusted with myself for eating these innocent creatures. I feel strongly against the killing of animals, and consuming meat. Due to my religion and culture I feel forced to act against my instincts and morals.
“My stomach is not a graveyard” This saying stayed with me from my research, how we consume animal flesh and they end up staying in our stomach taking as many as a few days to digest. I saw a few disturbing videos on how cattle were treated in a slaughter house, they were faced with unnecessary slow and painful deaths. Another video showed me how fur and animal skin was obtained from animals, this video was extremely grotesque in many cases they would skin the animals alive ripping the fur and skin off of their bodies while they are hanged. Animals experience pain and joy so, for our enjoyment we take their lives away. After acquiring this knowledge I had stopped my meat consumption and became a green eater. It was a huge and difficult adjustment but with any other thing in life it get easier the longer you practice it. In Islam once a year on Eid al-Adha (religious holiday) we are required to sacrifice an animal-usually a cow, goat, or sheep here in the US, other countries use camels buffalos and other animals. It is supposed to be painless for the animal if done correctly. They meat is supposed to be divided into three portions: the first portion is for personal nourishment, the second is for distribution among friends and family, and the third is for distribution to the poor. In Bengali culture on that day during the evening after the meat is cooked we travel to each family members house and eat a little meat from everyone’s house, it is considered disrespectful to not visit your family on this day, and more so refusing to eat anything once you get there.
Last year on Eid, it was my first year practicing vegetarianism, I was very conflicted. I did not want to kill an animal, but I knew it must be done. I was powerless in a sense, it went against my beliefs to sacrifice an animal, because I wanted to protect them rather than to harm them, but I had no say in this matter. After morning prayer we drove out to a farm in New Jersey to pick out a cow. Usually when you choose to sacrifice a cow you divide the cow with five or seven families since the cost is so much and the price is expensive opposed to a goat. So everyone chose the cow, they strung it up and slit its throat. It was done in one quick and swift slice, the cow had died and there was so much blood oozing out of