Essay Contest Winner

IT WAS A DAY I had looked forward to. The advanced English classes were taking a trip to the Dallas Museum of Art to view the exhibits on Greek and Roman mythology. Afterward, we would proceed to the Spaghetti Warehouse for a meal. The excursion was an all-day affair.

After a few hours at the museum, we proceed to the eatery. Already an hour past our usual lunch time, we were famished. But as we walked through the doors to the restaurant, a teacher informed us that, for ease, the faculty had placed our orders of spaghetti with meat sauce prior to our arrival.

My first reaction was to forget the eight dollars I had paid for the meal. The plight of a vegetarian on such excursions is often starvation. And I hate to cause a scene. But as I looked around the group of 50 students, I noticed six friends in the same predicament. That is, more than 10 percent of the group that would endure the remaining day empty-stomached if we allowed their arbitrary and presumptuous meal dictations.

Granted, in most groups of 50, there would be decidedly fewer vegetarians/vegans. But in a group of advanced English students, there are bound to be more thinkers. I thought it odd that the teachers would not recognize that. I almost decided to ignore the situation again until I saw the stricken face of Alexandra.

Until recently, Alexandra lived in New Orleans. She came to our school after her own school was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. She was a quiet girl, smart and studious. I had heard her once gleeful over the decision by the Dallas Aquarium to take in stranded sea creatures until they could be returned to their habitat in New Orleans, but apart from that she was mainly silent.

This was the most violent reaction I had seen out of her in the months I had known her. She was shaking her head and looking disgusted. I suspected the problem, but I asked anyway. She confirmed my suspicions that, though she was starving, she simply could not bear to eat the spaghetti with meat sauce.

That was my decision point. Trying not to make a scene but aware that everyone in earshot could hear me, I approached my English teacher, then went to the manager. They exchanged our meals for salads, and I learned that some people are accommodating when it comes to standing by your convictions.