12.15.12 So, I went for a walk last week during lunch hour. Because of health reasons (diabetes) I have stopped eating meat for the last several months. While this is not a requirement of Buddhism it does fit in well with the compassion theme and if anyone is wondering what I mean then point your browser to www.mercyforanimals.org and you'll get the picture. Anyway, I found the "pizza window" at work (my school) and....well, that's a bit of a weakness for me. So I ordered a slice of cheese pizza only to find out that they only had pepperoni so since there was a line backing up behind me I went for a slice. Getting back to my room, I dutifully picked off the slices of meat in preparation to eat the beckoning slice of utter joy. Then it dawned on me....would it be more non-virtuous to toss the pepperoni or eat it? Which would honor the animal more? Yep, I ate it. It was good too but I realized something. I mindfully go out of my way to choose vegetarian dishes as often as possible and if a friend invited me over to dinner and was serving hot dogs or hamburgers wouldn't it be worse to decline the offer of hospitality and perhaps make them feel bad? Absolutely. I'm not here to teach the world how to act nor to try to be the model of Buddhism for others to follow. I'm here to do the best that I can, be compassionate of the needs of others and always try to be kind. Do I always succeed? Nope but just like the kid who fell off his bike....you just get back up, dust yourself off and head on down the road. naturally, I'll swerve to avoid hitting animals....just like I always have. Namaste