Kill it yourself

I am a vegetarian. A lily-livered, bleeding-heart, do-gooder vegetarian. Everyone expects me to be squeamish, and I will admit that sometimes I get a little woogy while shopping for my parents in the meat section of the supermarket.

I also get ooged out by handling meat. I have a hard time thinking of the stuff that runs out as "juices," because when I cut myself, "juice" does not run out. Animal juice is just like people juice to me, and I don't like people juice very much.

But you know what I don't have a problem with? Hunting. And raising your own animals and killing them yourself.

If you want to go out and get your own meat, I'm fine with it.

Chasing down wolves in helicopters like Sarah Palin doesn't sit well with me, and I don't like trophy hunting, but if you are providing your family with meat and you are willing to get your hands bloody doing it, more power to you.

I especially approve of people raising their own meat animals. That way you know what they are, WHO they are. You know what they have eaten and how healthy they are. And then, hopefully, you kill, prep and eat them with respect, wasting as little as possible, because you know what was sacrificed for your well-being.

This is why I also don't freak out over people eating eyeballs, brains, cheek, tongue. To me, meat is meat and it seems stupid to get all crazy over what part of the animal it comes from. How is it that eating the side of an animal is fine but ooh gosh no, not the tongue - THAT'S GROSS. Huh?

I love that people make sausage out of blood other "gross" stuff. To me, it shows respect to the animal, which is also what I am trying to do by not eating them at all.