Charles Stahler is a co-founder and co-director of the Vegetarian Resource Group.

When I became vegetarian, it never occurred to me to eat fish. It is fascinating how many people see fish differently from other animals. Interestingly, when we went “fishing” when young, my father always taught us to put the fish in water in a bucket, and not let it flap around in the boat, so it wouldn’t suffer more than necessary. We were still catching and killing it, but I guess there was a recognition it was a living creature that could feel pain.

When I worked in a halfway house, the other house parent put lobsters in a boiling pot as a treat for the client, and I heard the the lobsters trying to get out. I truly never saw that before. Amazing how a caring person could boil a live animal.