I’m afraid I’ll stop posting here though, I realised that having specialised blogs doesn’t help the frequency of writing. I’ll write further essays on doing what I can on my brand new personal blog Overcoming Gravity.

Talk to you there!

Like I said, I’m still researching. Well, at least I would be if I didn’t have an exam on Friday :-) Although I’m pretty sure nothing will change my mind, I don’t usually rush into decisions.

Still, after what I saw yesterday night… I couldn’t possibly eat meat today.

This is a good opportunity for a bit of background info on me. I am a 23 year-old guy from Portugal. Since last September and until upcoming July, however, I’ve been studying in Bristol, UK.

And that’s all the background info I’ll share for now :-)

Well there I was at Co-op, this morning, looking for a ready-made meal that I’d just have to stick in the oven. You know, exam period. Funny how I used to think “wow, there’s loads of vegetarian stuff” before I was interested in it. Today I wished I had more choice. I ended up bringing home delicious stuff:

• Co-operative spinach and ricotta cannelloni, x2 (£4);
• Co-operative stonebaked margherita pizza (£2.50).

Now, both are “Suitable for vegetarians”, yet both contained dairy products. Not that I’m getting hard-core straight from the bat, I’m just beginning to be aware of options, or lack thereof.

Talking with flatmates, ideas of carefully chosen products came to discussion. Carefully chosen products as in meat from certified “we-don’t-work-like-that” farms. Well, that’s part of the researching I want to do. If anybody has ideas towards a not-so-radical point of view, please do post them here.

Duty (study) calls!

PS. Forgot to mention the fact that the cannelloni was indeed delicious :-)

I was very close to ignoring that policy just now.

I finally decided to create this blog to spread the word. If you’re reading this, sorry for wasting your time with this prelude, please read on.

I have just read a message from a friend of mine, containing the following link. Please be aware though, the video is extremely violent. I have no problem in saying this: I had tears in my eyes about 2/3 into the video, and I can’t remember the last time I had cried. It is extremely violent.

http://www.goveg.com/swf/255-mym.swf

Quoting the movie “Seven”,

Wanting people to listen, you can’t just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer, and then you’ll notice you’ve got their strict attention.

That’s exactly how I feel at this moment. Hit by a sledgehammer for 13 long minutes.

It got my strict attention.

Did I have no idea this was going on before I saw the video? I couldn’t say I hadn’t and keep a straight face. It is just different when you see it, I guess.

I won’t get into the brutality of the video. If you saw it, I don’t need to explain my reasons. If you didn’t, because you decided not to after my warning, I understand perfectly. I’ll explain in short – I want the abuse on animals to stop.

It is a bold statement. I am completely aware that it is very hard for an individual to have the necessary influence. But even if nobody else in the world shared them, the mere fact that I have these values will make me act in a congruent way.

And I don’t want to be a part of that.

As such, the least I can do is to be selfish and start becoming aware of ways in which I am a part of that, and then to start looking for ways to solve the problem.

The obvious one is becoming a vegetarian.

I just made a (very) quick research. Apparently I had a lot of preconceptions. Even misconceptions, actually. Like in terms of nutrition, for example, there are no shortcomings at all in following a vegetarian diet. Have a look, Wikipedia is as always a good start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarianism

Check out GoVeg for a more biased source. I’m not saying I don’t trust the info on the site, I’m just bringing up the awareness on the fact that everything on it will say “Go Veg”.

http://www.goveg.com

I can only see advantages. I am used to predisposition – I have a pretty reasonable ability of remaining impartial even after being struck emotionally, like in this situation. Still, I can only see advantages.

Well, folks, I’ll be doing some more research very soon. But unless I find some unshakable evidence otherwise, I believe I hit a turning point today.

Becoming a vegetarian, in my head, is no longer a matter of self-discipline turning into a routine turning into a habit.

It is now a matter of core values.

Think about this. I’ll keep you posted.