Today I was asked to deliver a presentation about why I became a vegetarian (almost, working on it, vegan) to Key Stage 3 (11-14 year olds). Firstly, just to put it out there I was SO nervous. I am great in front of my classes, happy to make a fool of myself, make mistakes and I feel totally at ease. But if you put another adult in the class, I just crumble. Put me in front of an audience of a few hundred and things get even worse. Second, I felt it was so important to do a good job as it is something I feel increasingly passionate about. Combine these nerves and passion and the kids got some sort of half lecture about the realities of the meat industry, its effects on the world, and the treatment of animals (I was asked to stay clear of talking about the health benefits as not to upset parents). In researching facts, so that I was not saying anything that could be disputed easily, I learnt so much more and now feel even more impassioned and determined to be 100 percent vegan. I still will not put this on anyone else, and I hope the students did not feel that was my intent. What I wanted even just one student to take away was a desire to research more on the topic on their own and possibly cut down on the beef (major reason for world wide deforestation).
I have also now checked another item of my '40' list, giving a presentation to a large audience.
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