Whatever the Reason

I read an article last week talking about the various reasons America is so fat and unhealthy. Although a lot of it was standard fare, one part of the article jumped out at me. It was talking about a lot of the antibiotics that are fed to the various animals to fatten them up, is then fattening up the people who are eating it on the regular. This article also gave the name of several different antibiotics that are outlawed in almost all other countries, except 'Merica.  And of course we've been hearing about the weird antibiotics in dairy for awhile now. Then, this weekend while bulking up at the Co-op, I had a lovely conversation with a lady from Germany, and she was telling me in her country the farm animals are not treated so inhumanely, and also not fed all of the weird stuff. She seemed to have a genuine mistrust of the food system here, and we were both buying some bulk spices, and I had to reassure her that the spices are organic. It was sad and funny all in one moment. 'Merica. This lovely lady was also asking me tons of questions about vegan ingredients, as she had just bought two new vegan cookbooks, and she said she wanted to cut way back on meat, and she loved the way vegans "use so much flavor, variety, and spice"! I also recently listened to a co-worker tell me about a grass fed type of docu show, or movie, not sure. But anyway, she has conceded after watching this that people should eat grass fed beef, cows should eat grass, and they should be able to move. Not sure why she thought I wanted to hear about her beef eating habits, but I guess I have to look at everything as progress.
One of the hardest parts about believing fiercely in freedom of speech, expression, and beliefs is accepting that not everyone shares my beliefs. For the most part it's fine with me, but I do struggle with animal love. How can people not love and fight for animals? I'll never know the answer. But, one thing I do know about people is that they care about themselves. So, all of this recent info I've read/heard about is good news. I have said it before, but at this point I don't care what the motivation is, the more people who start demanding better conditions, and higher expectations for what goes into their mouth, will only make life more tolerable for these poor animals. I of course am not satisfied with tolerable, but it is progress. As long as we are progressing, not regressing, I will take it.
At this point, I'm not really sure why anyone would eat meat, or any kind of mainstream, processed food. Our food system, and what we allow to go into what we eat is the stuff nightmares are made of.
I also am a believer in some type of Karma, checks and balance, sin, whatever you want to call it. And how can so much fear, abuse, and stress be put onto a living, sentient being, and then someone ingests that? I just feel it can't be good for anyone's health, it sounds more like a horror movie. So, if people start demanding that animals are treated more kindly because they don't want to get fat, then I say bring on the fat fearing!
This is a better time than ever for people to "flirt" with the idea of going vegan, or vegetarian, because the food is so amazing now! I really applaud how far vegan food has come, and it seems like it's only getting better.  I feel like it's getting almost to the point where no one can use tase as an excuse for cruelty.
At this point, all that matters is the information is getting out there. Information that vegans have been saying for eons is being spread now by Dr. Oz, various print and online articles, Oprah, CNN, and who knows who else, but it's going mainstream!