There's as many reasons to be a non-meater as there are practioners. Mine strarted over 33 years ago while i was building my first house and home for our little family. Back then i usually had a radio playing background music while my hammer and i kept time.One of those fine days the CBC was carrying an interview with an doctor about the prevalence of colon cancer in N. American men. He said that the putrafication of meat was the main culprit because meat took such a long time to get through the digestive tract. His advice was that every man should take one month a year off meat because in that period of time the digestive track would clean out reslting in plummeting numbers.
It sounded like good advice so that very day i started my month long abstinance. After only a few days i started to feel extra energy and a growing sense of well being sorta similiar to the boost a person feels who's recntly quit smoking feels. As the days turned to weeks i began to remember that as a little kid the biggest aguemnt my mom and i had at mealtime was about the meat. Her common refrain was "Bobby, eat your meat". Guess i was a born non-meateater.
My decision to try this month long colon cleansing recommended by the radio doctor wasn't exactly welcomed with open arm by wife at the time and as we neared the end of the 30 days there was rejoicing and a planned roast beef celebration. On day 31 the roast was being prepared over in the little makeshift kitchen we were using while the larger house was rising around it. i was up top strappin the roof in advance of the slated arrival of a gang of friends the next day to help me start nailing on the cedar shakes i'd produced for the job from a couple of huge cedar snags at the back of the property. Such was the way of things in our community back then, it was all for and one for all, barter, be it in work or goods ruled, profits and money drooled.
As the strapping neared the ridge and the sun's rays dropped behind the forest canopy the powerful aroma of roast beef cooking below filled the air. It smelled good, sorta. i was definately having mixed feelings about the whole situation. i sat up on the roof's ridge wondering atmy next move and, as i've done so many times, i asked for a sign. Right then the damnest thing hapened, a little bird flew up from behind me and landed on my shoulder. He just perched there, i turned my head lowly to look at him/her, it slowly ured its head and looked me straight in the eyes, i amost fell backwards insurprise. Within a few seconds my little friend flew off and i climbed own the ladder and headed for the makeshift shower.
Now i was in big trouble, i knew the little bird's message was, as all 'signs' are, simply a manifestation of a change in my sub-conscious filtering mechanism, that we all see/find what we're looking for. It was an unusually long shower but when i came out it was with the realization that for at least this one more day i was a non-meateater. Evryday since then i've continued to make the same choice.
