pointless vegetarian

It has been about a year since I decided to become a vegetarian, 11 months and 11 days to be exact. I have always had a strong love for animals but I also had a strong love for tasty foods like carne asada and hamburgers, but as I researched more and more about how the animals are treated I started to ask myself if I believe this is wrong, then why am I helping support it? I started to believe that no animals should be killed for food, we can live without meat. Then a day that changed it all for me, one random day while at a fast food place my sister asked me if I wanted a hamburger which was ordinarily my order, but in that moment I imagined a happy living cow in a field and then after I imagined a big juicy burger. The two pictures that popped up in my mind was like my way of asking myself, what do you want more? Do you want to help support what you believe? or be the reason for another animals death? After I rejected the hamburger, everything changed, I would never ask for a hamburger ever again. I would never eat meat ever again, I would never eat another animal ever again. The sudden change was hard at first, especially while living in a Mexican household where every dinner had some kind of meat. I quickly felt like I could barely eat anything as my food choices became limited. It took me about 1–2 months to get used to canceling out meat. I realized that I could still eat so much of the food I used to. Yes, there was a lot of tasty meals I did have to give up but I do not mind, at this point I have forgotten all about the taste of meat, the taste of the animals I love.

I am happy with the way I am and when people offer me meat I will proudly say, “no thank you, I am vegetarian.” But with this short answer comes a question that usually follows up after, “what made you want to stop eating meat?” then I always have the same answer, “for the animals, I don’t believe in killing animals for food.” and then comes that obvious statement that i have heard hundreds of times already, “That is pretty pointless to stop eating meat, animals are going to be killed for food whether you eat them or not so you might as well eat them.” I hate that people have to constantly tell me this, I am going to stand up for my beliefs whether it changes anything or not. Just like how I do not believe that innocent people should be killed, but yet they still get killed, does that mean I should start murdering random people I see in the streets? NO! obviously not because that is wrong and I see the the killing of animals as wrong so I refuse to take part in it. Yes, I would love more people to think the same as me and stop eating meat, but I do not go around telling people that they should stop and that they are wrong for doing so. I would like the same respect for my opinion, we all have the right to our own opinions so please do not tell me I am wrong and my belief is pointless because trust me, to me, it is important.