Ahem. I would first like to start out by saying that vegetarians are people too. There's nothing weird or gross about us. We just don't eat meet. And you can have your own opinion about what is the "correct way to live", but that doesn't mean you have to make fun of us!
For example, I noticed some serious prejudice against us the other day. I was looking at the menu options for my classes trip to Canada. The meat-eater options were "ham, olive, and mozzarella" and "chicken in balsamic glaze". The vegetarian option (NOTE: I SAID OPTION!!! SINGULAR!!! ONLY ONE VEGETARIAN CHOICE WAS AVAILABLE WHERE AS THE MEAT-EATERS COULD CHOOSE BETWEEN TWO THINGS!!!) was "vegetables and cheddar". Now I don't know about you, but that sounds like someone doesn't like vegetarians. They make the meat options sound all fancy shmancy and then just say "vegetables and cheddar" like they don't give a crap about us! Like they don't think that "Hey, maybe the vegetarians would like some nice food too!" No, they just think "Oh, since they eat tofu which is so incredibly bland I don't know how they stand it, they won't mind eating old vegetables with store brand cheese on stale WonderBread!" Like come on! I happen to be very fond of fancy food! I BAKE FRICKING HAMILTON PIES FOR HEVEN SAKES!!!!
And then again today in French class, my teacher was talking about drinks, and at one point he said "steak juice" and held a rubber steak over a cup. I screeched and freaked because STEAK JUICE?! UMM, EXCUSE ME?! GROSS! He then proceeded to tease me by holding the prop close to my head, forcing me to stare at it whenever I took my head off of my desk. The whole time, the rest of the class (excluding my one friend, I think *glares suspiciously*) just laughed and gave me weird looks! I mean, I was practically in tears but they just kept laughing! This one kid then yelled "I love killing animals and eating them!" Everyone laughed at the horrified look on my face. After all that, the teacher said "Talk about being a strict vegetarian..." like, UMM, EXCUSE ME!!! WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE A RUBBER STEAK SHOVED IN YOUR FACE AND THEN GET LAUGHED AT FOR REACTING THE WAY ANY HUMAN BEING WOULD?!! I DIDN'T THINK SO!!! And then after the excitement had died down and I had developed a splitting headache from the excitement (which would then, combined with an asthma attack, cause me to temporarily loose sight in my left eye, be unable to walk by myself, and almost pass out in the next period gym class) we were all doing out work. I was talking with my group, when all of a sudden, the rubber steak landed on my desk! Out of nowhere! Someone had thrown it at me! I shrieked and threw it to the floor. Again, laughter from the kids around me erupted.
And then, to top it all off, when I told my dad (who used to be a vegetarian, I might add) what had happened today, he said, and I quote, "You need to be less jumpy." I HAD JUST BEEN MADE FUN OF BY 30 OF MY CLASSMATES BECAUSE OF MY EATING HABITS AND HE TELLS ME I NEED TO TOUGHEN UP?!?!?! 10/10 PARENTING, DAD!!!
So anyways, if you're reading this and you are a vegetarian, please tell me about a time when/if something like this has happened to you. And if you are not a vegetarian and are reading this, please be more considerate to us. The saying "You are what you eat" is not always true. We are not vegetables. We have feelings, just like you do. We are people, just like you are.
