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Why I'm a Vegetarian

© Richard Kent Matthews

(I haven't intended for this article to be preachy, but I'm a minister, so if it's a little preachy, what the heck? So be it. . .)

In 1989, I made four major changes. First, I quit drugs. I wasn't overly heavy on them, but I used enough speed and amyl nitrate to call myself a drug abuser. I used to go to the dance clubs and sniff amyl (called poppers to the uninitiated) from eight in the evening until closing at two several times a week. How could I do that? Speed, of course. And a few drinks. When I wasn't doing the speed, I would sit in my favorite Denver cocktail lounge and do more than a few drinks. Vodka was my beverage of choice. I mixed it with any number of fruit juices, sparkling stuff, and even just plain. After doing that for about 12 years, I could honestly call myself an alcoholic. So, second, I quit drinking. . .even wine.

I also smoked a bit, like, up to four packs a day, especially when I was drinking or doing speed. I started in 1967 AFTER I got out of the military. Almost everyone I knew while I was in, smoked. I managed to stave it off, until I started doing speed and drinking. Third, I quit smoking. Three times before it took.

Also, in 1989, I became, fourth, a vegetarian. That was the hardest of all. Quitting smoking was a piece of cake compared to giving up Big Macs, Whoppers, and Jumbo Jacks. I had no trouble with the "good" meat: steaks, chops, chicken, fish. But the greasy burgers! Oh, how I loved the greasy burgers!

What prompted all the clean-up? I had been a born-again Christian for more years than I can count, and all those things, except the greasy burgers, were considered sinful. But I either didn't care or couldn't, I don't remember which. I loved the speed, the booze, the smokes. And of course, the greasy burgers. I can still swoon if I get a whiff of one of them.

I quit smoking, drinking, and drugging for some obvious reasons: health, health, and more health. Plus, I figured if I didn't stop all that, I wouldn't get into heaven. (Horrors!)

And you would think that becoming a vegetarian would be part of that, too. And it was, to a degree. But I mostly became a vegetarian because of the ethical aspects. I read a book by John Robbins called "Diet for a New America" and it changed my life. I learned about the ways animals are treated, from the farm/ranch, to the shipping docks, to the slaughterhouses to the table. I learned that on the ranches/farms, cattle, sheep, and pigs are often fed nasty conglomerations of grains and grasses and chemicals and other animals. They are fed shredded newspaper and other paper waste, falsely--and chemically--flavored in ways that appeal to them; they can't tell the difference. I learned that by the time they reach the consumers' table, they may well be rotten, poisonous, and carcinogenic. (90% of all chickens have cancer at the time of slaughter.) I learned that they are often mistreated, leading to panic, which releases certain chemicals and hormones into their blood streams that can actually get into the tissue, which people then eat. These chemicals are not good for us. They may not show up immediately, but down the road, they can and mostlikely will, cause serious problems.

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