I eat meat. I find it tasty and comforting, yet I can’t shake the feeling that raising animals for profit the way we do—industrially, impersonally, and on a massive scale—is fundamentally wrong. It doesn’t seem to benefit humankind; it certainly doesn’t make the world a better place. I know that. And yet, I continue.
Inspired by a simple question DayOne posed in my WordPress Jetpack app, I’ve been contemplating the uncomfortable, contrasting truths I navigate every day.
Intelligent life, I think, is about recognizing that nearly everything in our choices contains contradiction. I love buying new clothes, but I feel terrible seeing another human being enduring the cold outside. I care about the environment, yet I fly across the planet. I value connection, but I disappear into a screen for hours.
Meat is just one of these contradictions—a more profound one when I consider the culture that shaped me. Like Argentina and Uruguay, Southeast Brazil treats meat not merely as sustenance but as a social institution. The Sunday churrasco is woven into childhood memories and family gatherings: laughter, stories, connection, belonging, and guilt. With them, I taste the tension between the opposing concepts.
I know how this sounds. Hypocrite? Work in progress? Probably both.
The fact is, I do what I can.
I navigate these feelings through ideas borrowed from St. Paul and Stoicism—focusing on what lies within my control and choosing the “lesser wrong” when perfection proves impossible. It’s far from impeccable, but it helps me maintain sanity and consciousness. And maybe, it’s the starting point for a bigger change.
Today, I eat meat only a few times weekly. I diversify my diet, exploring cuisines and plant-based dishes from around the world.
I want future generations to expand the meaning of tradition, including more than merely the habits we inherited. I don’t know how to reach that destination, but I know it begins with people like me willing to sit with discomfort rather than look away.
So that’s what I do. I sit with it. One meal at a time.
