Vegan Saturday II | Why go vegan?
Comments (6) Alright, it’s the big question! CourtneyInControl asked, “What made you decide you want to go vegan?”
Disclaimer: My intent is not to convert you to veganism, just to share my feelings on the subject!
I’ve been a vegetarian for over 8 years. The idea of becoming vegan (not eating milk or egg products) did not become intriguing to me until I lived in Rome, in 2006. I volunteered at an animal shelter with a lot of vegans who shared information with me about the lifestyle. I believed in the cause, as well as the health benefits of the diet, but honestly, I was NOT ready to make the change yet. I didn’t want to spend time worrying or caring about what was in my food, especially when living in Rome! I wanted to be carefree and eat as much pasta and gelato as I could fit in in 7 months (rest assured, I accomplished that)! I didn’t want to go to the trouble of learning even more of the Italian language to read food labels, and ask waiters in Italian, “Does that have dairy or egg in it?” I was just lazy.
Since then though, I made a somewhat conscious decision to cut back on dairy and egg products. I didn’t eat them that often. When I lived by myself, I didn’t even keep those things in my apartment. BUT, I did enjoy the occasional slice of pizza, bowl of ice cream, or scrambled eggs.
Since then, I’ve constantly run across information on factory farming and animal exploitation. Honestly, I do NOT search this information out, because I cannot stomach it. If I read/see/hear something cruel, I CANNOT get it out of my mind. It makes me feel sick.
But since I kept finding myself running into this information, I did force myself to think about it, and came to the conclusion that I must use my actions to voice what I believe:
I believe that animals should not be exploited for our gain. I believe they are sentient beings, who should have the basic right of living a free life. I believe they should not be used for food, clothing, research, or entertainment, even if there is no unnecessary suffering.
I feel like cutting out dairy and eggs is one small step for me. Animals are used for more than just food. There are many ways they are exploited that I do not agree with. But I honestly cannot go on a rampage through my house throwing away all of my leather products, glue, the tires off my car, etc. I can only make small steps towards a more compassionate lifestyle.
I really want to share some of the awful things I’ve learned about animal exploitation, but I don’t want to ruin your day, if you are like me and cannot get the images out of your head, so I am going to share some links below.
Thanks for reading with an open mind.
Themocracy