"Dang Bro :)"

Those two words and that emoticon were all that I needed to be put in my place.  My cousin/nephew (long story) had emailed a bunch of us about how he met a nutritionist and she had passed along some basic information and background to him.  She said all the standard stuff you hear about if you're into that kind of stuff (fruits and veggies - good, whole grains -good, water - good, processed food - bad, sugars - bad, etc.  And then she talked about "meat" and said something akin to "meat itself isn't bad for you, it's what's done to the meat that is."  I was good, until that point.  And again, to reiterate, I agreed with 99.9% of what she said, she's obviously educated and enlightened and I'm here, just a regular dude, talking through my nose.  :)

I think I went off.  Sure, meat itself, in the right quantities, isn't bad for you.  I hear that.  In small quantities, it's great.  But, do we really eat meat in small quantities, the type that I'm alluding to here?  I don't think so.  We eat meat, sometimes at every single meal, maybe 50% of our total calories, I dare say, come from meat.  And that's just way too much.  That was point #1.  Point #2, which I won't detail here, is what's done to meat.  And I think you know my stance on that.  Just read "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer, and that sums it up.

But, in retrospect, I think my unintended arrogance about the topic came through, and thus the response from my beloved cousin/nephew.  I think I should speak or write with more restraint, more control, and make sure not to force information upon people.  Heck, the poor nutritionist said so many good things, and I focused the 0.0001% of the 0.1% that I had issue with.  And that's dumb on my part.

So, to all the good people that were copied on that email, I say to you here publicly, I apologize for my unintended arrogance.  I'm just a regular dude, I don't know much, just read a few books, and all of a sudden have a passion about this stuff.  I just want to encourage you to arm yourself with the information that's available, and then come to your own conclusions.  Obviously, whatever you decide that is right for you, is the right choice.  There's no right or wrong answer here, just the one that you choose personally.

I pray for you daily, that you have peace, health, and happiness in your life.  And if there's ever anything I can do or say that helps, I'm appreciative of that.