Reflections on vegetarianism, ends and means, the path and the traveller

It all begins with a debate on Guardian CIF about the merits or otherwise of Vegetarianism (what an ugly word that is!).. the debate was entirely about the rights of animals, ecological efficiency, and whatnot.
Which is all beside the point..
The only good reason not to kill animals for food is that one should not kill, period. Not out of concern for the poor animal but out of concern for ourselves. If I am violent, it changes me. It makes me less of a human being inside – something inside me becomes hard and insensitive. As the Buddha pointed out long long ago, the evil-doer is punished, not in the next life, but here and now. It is out of compassion for ourselves, not for the animals, that we should avoid killing them.

‘ends justify the means’ – what does it mean? Either it is a category mistake – ends and means are different in kind and cannot be compared, or we are merely saying means are also ends, and some ends are more important than others, which is trivially true, or we are saying something absolutely false. I think it is the third.. the means we adopt to achieve the ends, define and change us – if the means we use are evil, we become unworthy of the ends even if the ends are achieved. The Buddha, of course, taught us all this some 2,500 years ago.
The path affects the traveler on it….