Being Able to Look a Cow in the Eye: Warning! Some Material Not Suitable for Carnivors

Being a vegetarian really annoys people. Having eaten only vegetables for 2 months now, you realize how odd people find it that you are not partaking in the beefier side of life. I am not trying to enforce my food lifestyle on anyone; I did not choose to be a vegetarian because of some religious, moral or ethical reason (although, I must admit, when we drive to Amarillo and pass the stock yards, I can look at those sad cows without a guilty conscious knowing that they will not be on my dinner plate). In fact, I never intended to be sans meat for any length of time. It was basically a catalyst to help me eat healthier. But I loved it so much that I've decided (at least for a time) to keep it up. So what's with all the anti-cow preserver attitudes? At a neighborhood party recently, I was the subject of intense scrutinty and suspicion as my food preference was announced to the table at large. I prefer to keep it a little more private, but I was poked and prodded like some kind of science experiment, told that protein was the spice of life, and asked was I about to join the religious, vegan group in Santa Fe that wears turbans on their heads (crazy people as evidenced by their wearing of head bandages as one man pointed out). Oh, to be so young and so misunderstood! Its enough to drive a person straight to the nearest steak restaurant.