Vegetarianism: a choice to make

Are you against all forms of discrimination? Sexism? Racism?

How about speciesism?


The smiley girl sits at the dinner table with her family, only that instead of a smile on her face, a slight saddened orah surrounded her. She sat there thinking about the murders; more murders that she could count on her fingers, more than the amount of bones in her body, she felt like stephen hawkings, as though nobody could hear her, yet she was still being heard. The girl was often approached by curious meat consumers if she ever missed the juicy meat sensation in her mouth, but not eating meat to her, was like popping every bubble in bubble wrap. “Honey, how about a little piece tonight?” her worried mother would ask.

The girl thought about this as she eyeballed the golden brown juicyness and the blood red inside of the steak, she shook her head and continued eating her salad.


Everybody knows somebody who is vegetarian, whether it’s due to religion, health, economics, or the environment they are in pushes them to take on the vegetarian diet. Life is drained from animals 6,000,000 times a year, 50,000 - 60,000 pigs slaughtered in a slaughter home each year, 8.5 billion birds being cut to pieces in a single week, all this and we still consider ourselves to be the kindest species on the planet.

What comes around, goes around is an old saying that traces back hundreds of years, if the concept of karma is said to be true, what is the future for us humans that are responsible for the death of over 58 billion animals? We are mass murders, how we morally treat animals is parallel to the holocaust. Adolf Hitler ordered an individual who was responsible for a slaughter house to create, and mimic what happens in a slaughterhouse to the Jews. We say what happened in world war 2 was horrific, how is this not any worse?


We are indeed aware of the mass murder that we are responsible for, yet 375 million people around the world take the initiative to try and change this, those 375 million are the non meat consumers.

Some of these vegetarians are challenged with issues such as: finding a community that accepts them for who they are, locating nearby restaurants with vegetarian/vegan food, or educating others about the issue that we are faced with. It is understandable for non vegetarians to think that the no-animal diet is a hard lifestyle, but the outcome for most is very positive.

“I want to become a vegetarian, but I just think it’ll be too much of an effort’ says a middle schooler, this portrays the opinion of many people. Although the concept of a non meat diet sounds very inconvenient the amount of pleasure that comes out of it is incredible. “I’ve been vegetarian for a while now, and the outcome is great! I get the right amount of protein, and the funny thing is, I even feel happier now” says a father of 4. This outlines the positive outcomes that people have had.


It is hard to be vegetarian but the ending result is more than you could imagine. The slaughtery that is happening right now needs a change, whether it’s an individual movement or an organisational change.


The smiley girl came home from school again. This time instead of a downhearted little girl, she was in good spirits. Maybe her family decided for a no meat Monday, or karma had finally gotten to her.

Social Media's Influence on today's Youth

Eating disorders are becoming the norm in today’s society. Up to 30 million people of all ages and genders in the United States are affected by eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating. Almost 50% of people diagnosed with this illness also fit the criteria for depression. These disorders more commonly affect young girls aged 12 to 25 but is also starting to show more in boys as well.

Eating disorders are illusive to a lot of people. For some, they associate eating disorders with people who are extremely depressed or are looking for attention. This is not the case for most people. Social media is one of the main causes for eating disorders. This drives teenagers to the brink of doing anything to be “pretty”.

“I think that pictures on Tumblr and Instagram with models that have perfect bodies contribute to girls feeling insecure and that tv shows and movies glorify eating disorders and make them seem not as bad as they are.” says grade eight student Isabella Duncan.

For many people the “desirable” type of body they see on social media is just out of reach. Impressionable young girls and boys opening up Instagram on their phones and seeing photos of the good life, photos of flawless people with perfect bodies, perfect jobs and perfect lifestyles, going to amazing places on holiday and look like they're always having fun drives them to trying to be the same. These teens then think to themselves, maybe if I looked like that I would be as happy as them.

After seeing picture after picture teenagers start to detest their bodies and blame themselves. They start to think that maybe if they were just a bit skinnier, or just a bit prettier they would have it all. For many teens with social lives, it is hard to stay on a constant diet when there are so many temptations, and hard to find time to go to the gym regularly. Even if you manage to do all these things it still takes time to progress and lose weight. 

“In my friend group, we always complain about how we look and say things that we don't like about our bodies. I think that girls feel like they have put themselves down so they don't seem self centered or arrogant.” says Isabella Duncan.

Eating disorders are not just a “phase” or for attention. Social media has chalked up eating disorders to something they’re not; a passing trend that you use to lose weight and then move on. This is an important issue as it affects the people around you in their everyday lives.

Even though it seems like a scary thought, it is a reality for many people and it is important in today’s society for us to make it a mission to help spread body positivity and make every body type acceptable.

By Francesca Marshall