Carnivorous Thoughts

I haven't eaten red meat in a long time, and the hamburger I got today looked to me like it was almost still breathing, ready to jump off the plate, and bleeding from several wound sites. It was shaped and textured very much like a large toad, and a piece was falling off one side like a stray back leg. My dinnermates enjoyed poking at it so that the blood and grease poured out. I felt sorry for it. I did not want to eat it. My eight-year, vegetarian-like streak has been more a health decision, not so much for humanitarian reasons. But I feel the tide (and my stomach) turning.
Someone I know was told repeatedly as a child that eating meat is the equivalent of consuming raw, rotting flesh and is done by ruthless evil people who slaughter innocent, living beings. I found that hard to grasp, that people would be made to believe that from a tender young age. It paints a horrifying picture, one that would help to permanently fix anti-carnivorous thoughts in one's conscience. On the other hand, I think a lot of children initially have trouble with the idea that meat comes from a once-living, gentle, beautiful animal, when they find out.