I sit here tonight, curled against a cushion with my girl Lacie and I’m struck to the core by her purity. She radiates love and innocence and deeply soulful kindness. As i gaze upon her, so moved by her utter trust, my mind drifts off to a few years back, my light bulb moment.
It was because of her that my entire life changed. Something in the way she looked at me one day sparked an epiphany of epic proportion. It was in her eyes that i saw how we are all connected. All beings on this planet. How we are all here together, and I made an immediate lifestyle change.
I realized then that humans, in their staggeringly sadistic egotism, had assumed that all other life forms here are earth are here to serve them. It was in that moment that I vowed to never again chose to benefit from the enslavement, torture and, murder of billions of innocent souls.
Literally over night I made sweeping changes and opted in to a full on Vegan way of life. I don’t buy products unless I am 100% positive that no animal had to suffer anywhere in the production process. This includes clothing, cosmetics, food, everything.
Incredibly, I was faced with a lot of personal challenges along the way from friends and family. The one challenge I had never anticipated was to have to defend myself for being Vegan. I experienced inquisitions, sarcasm, cruel comments, mockery and, invasion of privacy, from people everywhere I went.
Huh. Ok. I lost friends. I have left work events. I have cried and been emotional from unsolicited and inexplicable anti-Vegan individuals and their harshness towards me. Eventually I developed a stance whereby I no longer feel the need to discuss my personal choice to respect all life.
If I am approached by a person who wants to know why I am Vegan, I ask them to go watch Earthlings and come back for a discussion after that. Not surprisingly, not one person has ever taken me up on that offer.
Thankfully I have found a Vegan community to join, where I am understood and can feel free to be myself without fear of a verbal attack. Defending myself for defending the innocent should not be part and parcel of my choice to eliminate cruelty from my life.
The silver lining of Veganism is the liberation my soul has experienced. Knowing that every single choice I make is based on the knowledge that no living breathing loving innocent being had to suffer. It freed me in a way I never expected. I chose to view all animals as an equal being, with the same right to a full and beautiful life as I have.
When I consider how many animals are incarcerated for the benefit of the human race, my heart breaks. My wish is that every one of us around the world will wake up to the fact that animals, every species, are here with us and not for us.
It was because of her that my entire life changed. Something in the way she looked at me one day sparked an epiphany of epic proportion. It was in her eyes that i saw how we are all connected. All beings on this planet. How we are all here together, and I made an immediate lifestyle change.
I realized then that humans, in their staggeringly sadistic egotism, had assumed that all other life forms here are earth are here to serve them. It was in that moment that I vowed to never again chose to benefit from the enslavement, torture and, murder of billions of innocent souls.
Literally over night I made sweeping changes and opted in to a full on Vegan way of life. I don’t buy products unless I am 100% positive that no animal had to suffer anywhere in the production process. This includes clothing, cosmetics, food, everything.
Incredibly, I was faced with a lot of personal challenges along the way from friends and family. The one challenge I had never anticipated was to have to defend myself for being Vegan. I experienced inquisitions, sarcasm, cruel comments, mockery and, invasion of privacy, from people everywhere I went.
Huh. Ok. I lost friends. I have left work events. I have cried and been emotional from unsolicited and inexplicable anti-Vegan individuals and their harshness towards me. Eventually I developed a stance whereby I no longer feel the need to discuss my personal choice to respect all life.
If I am approached by a person who wants to know why I am Vegan, I ask them to go watch Earthlings and come back for a discussion after that. Not surprisingly, not one person has ever taken me up on that offer.
Thankfully I have found a Vegan community to join, where I am understood and can feel free to be myself without fear of a verbal attack. Defending myself for defending the innocent should not be part and parcel of my choice to eliminate cruelty from my life.
The silver lining of Veganism is the liberation my soul has experienced. Knowing that every single choice I make is based on the knowledge that no living breathing loving innocent being had to suffer. It freed me in a way I never expected. I chose to view all animals as an equal being, with the same right to a full and beautiful life as I have.
When I consider how many animals are incarcerated for the benefit of the human race, my heart breaks. My wish is that every one of us around the world will wake up to the fact that animals, every species, are here with us and not for us.