I've always known people who were vegetarians and I always respected their decisions, but I never thought I'd be able to do it. I'd always been a huge fan of bacon and steak and ham and hot dogs and just meat, meat, meat. That is, until last Tuesday.

I was driving home after hanging out with my friend and I was on one of those roads that seems to go on straight forever, the roads that are basically highways because they're the main street in a small town. Keep in mind, I live in Massachusetts and there are a lot of woods surrounding my house and the surrounding areas, so it's not unusual to see lots of animals roaming around. But when animals roam around, especially near really busy streets, there tends to be a lot of roadkill. I'd never really paid much attention to it before because it was just something that you drove around but that you didn't really think about. And, I don't know what was different about this time, but this time I didn't just ignore it. I stared at the lifeless turkey carcass that was lying in the middle of the street and I immediately became overwhelmed with grief.

Why is it that when people die, we mourn for years and years and never really get over the fact that they're no longer alive, but we kill animals and eat them like they're nothing? Sure, a lot of animals don't have brains as advanced as us humans, but that doesn't mean that they don't have families too and that their families don't also mourn the loss of their loved ones.

A lot of people like to make the argument that animals were put on the earth for humans to eat and that, because of how the food chain works, we shouldn't feel guilty about eating them, but they're living creatures too and there is no reason to think that that they deserve life any less than human beings. Plus, the meat industry is horrific and the way that animals are treated before they're slaughtered is just as inhumane as killing them.

I'm not going to be one of those overly aggressive and pushy vegetarians that tries to push their vegetarian agenda on all of the non-vegetarians because it's never anyone's right to tell someone else what to do with their life. But I don't think that that should mean that people shouldn't try to educate themselves on why some people make the decisions that they do, vegetarianism being one of them. I won't judge you for eating meat, so don't judge me for not eating meat. But don't assume that I'm doing it to be "trendy" or for some other illegitimate reason.