2000 VRG Essay Contest Winners.

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"It isn't etiquette to cut anyone you've been introduced to. Remove the joint!"

--Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

In Alice in Wonderland, the Red Queen has just introduced a leg of mutton to Alice. While real people do not introduce their main course to their dining companions, if you have ever met a sheep, cow, pig, or any other animal used for human consumption, you are eating someone you've been introduced to.

You've probably been to a farm. On this farm, they had a cow ... and a sheep, and some chickens. You may have commented on the cuteness of these creatures. Then, later, when you got home, you had roast beef or fried chicken for dinner. Many people have been to a park and fed the ducks. No matter what animals you've seen or met, if you eat them, it's simply bad etiquette. What would you do if a sheep came up to you and ate you? The sheep should get the same courtesy which it gives to you, which is not eating you. I'm not implying that a sheep would want to eat a person--a sheep has better taste than to eat a person--but the truth is simply that eating meat is swallowing the flesh of a formerly living creature. The creature used to have a life and a family, just like you, and you would take that away, just as if a giant cow stole someone from your family away for their dinner table.

I have chosen not to eat meat out of respect for animals. I think that it is hypocritical of people to say they love animals, and then get a triple cheeseburger with bacon and chicken nuggets for dinner. I don't think that people actually mean to be so hypocritical, because they don't usually think about the connection between "cows" and "beef," or "pigs" and "pork." They think of "animals" or "meat," but not both at the same time.

Before becoming a vegetarian, I learned that the animals are treated terribly before they are slaughtered, and that many laws are broken during the slaughtering, such as not putting the animal to sleep before cutting its head off. Reading about these atrocities made me recognize that animals and meat are one and the same.

When the animals are taken to be slaughtered, they are treated inhumanely. If people are treated inhumanely, great actions are taken. I believe that animals are living things that are to be respected as well as humans. There are slogans of "Save the Trees!" and "Save the Earth? and sometimes even "Save the Dolphins? but I don't see why there aren't "Save the Livestock!" supporters as well. I know that dolphins are endangered, the earth is endangered, too, and that livestock aren't. Even things that are supposedly plentiful, however, will not always last. It is the thought of keeping these animals alive and well that influenced my personal decision to respect them. I respect them by not eating them.

Sometimes, people will say that it's wrong that I gave up meat, because animals were put on the earth to be eaten. I don't think that this is right. In my opinion, animals are here to live and co-exist with us.

Sara M. MacKimmie, Age 14 East Lansing, MI

I Am a Vegetarian

I love the food. I am the healthiest kid in the world. Maybe ... Not. I don't know because I haven't traveled around the world because we couldn't afford it. I am healthier than other people because I'm not sick this year.

I eat cookies, candy, popcorn, vegetables, fruit, potatoes, apples, pizza and fries, Mexican food, and chik chik (soy-based chicken). My favorites are pizza and fries and my favorite lunch is peanut butter and jelly. I could eat these every day. Look NO MEAT! I have never eaten meat.

Meat is too yucky! Because it tastes like animals. Animals stink. Some of them don't take baths. Sometimes the chickens still have feathers. Beef smells horrible. I just wish that I could still get the prizes from McDonald's and Burger King, but it's not worth eating meat just to get toys. Dad gets me toys from the Dollar Store instead.

Dillon Upton, Age 8 Knightdale, NC