Untill I was a young teenager, my family members were big meat eaters and then my parents went through this whole religious change and the family went vegetarian. I ended up going to a religious school where they really spat at meat and meat-eaters. Even when I got out of that school, I remained a vegetarian for a number of years and really preached it. I knew all the ethical, moral, health, etc, etc arguments for being vegetarian and believed in it. As the years went by and I got more assimilated in the secular world, I suppose my religious training wore off. My desire to eat meat started to slowly come back. For a little while I was torn between the arguments against meat eating that I had felt and my current desire to explore the worlds cuisines. After being a veg for 13 years, about a year ago I started to eat meat once again. I guess it was a change in personal philosophy. I didn't feel that the arguments that I gave years ago really touched my heart. I'm glad at present that living in the States I have a much wider variety of dishes to choose from (wheras before I would scan the menu for what I could eat--rather than for what I wanted to). Philosophically, at present I feel that its a dog eat dog world. Compassion is over rated. We don't give up a lucrative job offer because someone else's children will have less opportunities do we? The weaker at the mercy of the stronger. Welcome to life. I don't try to pretty it up more than it is. Over the years, listening to all the (health, wealth, morality, religious, etc) arguments I have realized that...it's a personal choice. If you can live with your choice, do it. If you can't, change. But be honest with yourself. Wow...this turned out longer than intended