Challenger

Vegetarians aren’t going to be overjoyed as Thanksgiving approaches. Why should they? After all, they don’t eat meat. Needless to say, there will be a mass of bleeding hearts this season.

Why do vegetarians dislike meat so much? What is this baffling mystery? What are the reasons behind their morals? Is meat really all that bad? In order to obtain the answers that I seek, it is apparent that I must join their ranks. And so begins my twisted journey.
At first I thought this would be easy. I mean, come on, it can’t be that bad. I would only cut meat out of my diet for a a little while. Then I found myself at a drive through of one of my favorite fast food restaurant and my agony began. Instead of choosing a hamburger for my meal of choice, I had to eat a salad. No big, of course. I like salad pretty well. But man cannot live on salad alone.

Night approached and my stomach began to rumble. Of course my house is stocked with the food of carnivorous beings, not herbivores. The test had arrived. Would I cave? I laughed at the idea. Me? Cave? Never. I solemnly prepared another salad from the neglected head of lettuce and chewed luxuriantly even though my heart was breaking on the inside.

Day two saw me in the breakfast line at school. No sausage biscuits for me, sadly. Instead, I snagged a pop tart. Things were’t too bad. I figured that I could survive this vegetarian soiree.

However, temptation found me no matter how much I hid. The day was Thursday a.k.a. Spicy Chicken Day. My stomach cried out for release which reluctantly.

Finally the big day arrived. A day that will live on in infamy. A day that I call T-Day.
The aroma of turkey woke me. I walked into the kitchen with a stomach of iron. I would not give in to the temptation. The day drove on and with each tick of the clock, the knowledge that my vegetarian days would be over when the clock struck twelve gave me the strength to carry on. I would survive this self-inflicted test.

The time came for dinner and plates were saturated with turkey. I held my plate before me and stared down at the stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce. I was quite satisfied since much of the menu was’t meat.

I sat down and began to feast. The lack of turkey and other meat didn’t bother me at first. However, I soon began missing turkey. I could almost hear “Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” playing in the distance. Indeed I was missing something at that point.
It was here that I realized something: Vegetarianism isn’t about excluding meat from your diet. It’s about respecting meat and the animal that it comes from. At that moment, I respected the turkey in front of me more than ever before.

I won’t be attempting vegetarianism next year. I’ll just leave those mysterious, crazy people alone.