I've always had a deep love and respect for nonhuman animals. I've always felt a connection to them and a desire to help them. As soon as I was old enough to understand the concept of killing animals for food, I knew it wasn't right. Long before I ever found out about the horrors of factory farming, I knew there was something terribly wrong with the idea that it's okay to take an animal's life, just because you like the way that animal tastes.
My mom (who has been vegetarian for over a year now, yay!) told me a story that reinforces my belief that I was born to be an animal rights activist. She said that, when I was three, she was cooking a turkey and started explaining to me what the different parts were. She told me "these were his legs" "these were his wings" etc. When I realized what she was saying, I started crying and shouted "you mean this was a real turkey?!" Until that moment, I had never even considered the possibility that turkey, the food, and turkey, the bird, were the same.
After that incident, I tried to give up meat several times throughout my childhood. Unfortunately, I lived in a small town, I didn't know anyone who was vegetarian, and my parents didn't have any idea how to help me (they also didn't think that being a vegetarian was a very good idea anyway). So it never lasted very long. Finally, when I was thirteen, I decided that I just wasn't going to eat meat anymore. No matter how hard it was, and no matter how much my parents disliked the idea, I was going to be a vegetarian. And it was really hard for a while, because I still lived in a small town, I still didn't know anyone who was vegetarian, and my parents still didn't have any idea how to help me. But I made it, and it has been more that worth any difficulty I may have had in the beginning.
To get off on a bit of a tangent for a moment, I just want to say how truly amazed I am at how much things have changed since then. In just ten years, it has gone from a point where I had never even heard the word vegan, and being vegetarian made people think you were crazy (at least where I live), to now when I can go to any large grocery store and find all sorts of foods stamped with that wonderful little heart with the V inside. Today, being a vegetarian or vegan doesn't have to be hard. It still takes dedication, but it no longer requires seemingly superhuman levels of self-control. There are endless resources out there to help new vegetarians and vegans and so many great products to make the transition easier. It gives me hope for the future when I see how much these things have multiplied over the years. It makes me believe that someday we really will be able to eliminate the cruelty of animal agriculture altogether.
After I gave up meat, I started slowly learning more and more about factory farming and I began to realize that just not eating meat wasn't good enough. It took me five years to finally decide to become vegan, and now I really wish I had done it sooner. I don't think most people have any idea how much suffering goes into the food that they eat every day, I know I didn't. I have been researching it for years and I am still shocked every once in a while at how truly awful the animal agriculture industry really is.
Even after I became vegan, it took me a long time to get to the point where I am now and I know I still have a lot of growing to do. I've found that, at least for me, a commitment to animal rights is a constant process of learning and changing. It has only been within the last couple of years that I have decided that I'm actually willing to put myself out there to help animals. For years I thought that my own dedication to not supporting cruelty was good enough. I would intentionally avoid talking to people about it, just because it was uncomfortable. I wouldn't tell people that I was vegan unless I had to, and then when they asked me why I would give them some short, vague answer in an attempt to avoid the awkward debate that was sure to follow.
Now I know that the only way things are ever going to change for nonhuman animals is if those of us who care, those of us who know the truth, do whatever we can to spread that truth to everyone. It's still a struggle for me to confront people about animal rights but, when I can make myself do it, it's always worth it. I'm working toward the point where I will be one of those fearless activist who don't care if they make people angry or if some people don't understand what they're doing. That's the kind of person I want to be. That's the kind of person we all need to be if we are ever going to create a world where animals can be free from the suffering they face today. Thanks for reading.
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