You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson (by way of The Omnivore's Dilemma)

This quote really struck me and has encouraged me, not to become a vegetarian or vegan as one might think, but to continue working to find local, humane sources for meat. As I read in The Compassionate Carnivore (Oxymoron? I don't think so.), if I remove myself from the "table" of discussion about meat production and processing by ceasing to eat meat, I am taking away one more advocate for the humane treatment of animals. By patronizing local, sustainable, and humane animal raisers, I am clearly voting for happy meat and animals.

This quote also underlines for me the way many people, including myself for a long time, have tried to ignore the truth about the origins of their meat. I think I need to do the opposite. Acknowledge an animal's life and death as I eat. Feel a sense of gratitude and awe for the process and for the farmer and the animal that made my meal. That's why this spring I would love to visit one of the farms we buy meat from--I want to put a face on my meat.