Why I’m Vegan

Another off-topic post here at HHV but this has been on my mind A LOT lately and writing it all down helps me remember exactly why I do what I do. When people talk about being Vegan, they will give a number of different reasons and all of them are completely valid. For me, though, it only has to do with one thing and one thing only: animals deserve to live their own lives free of pain and suffering.

It’s been nearly 3 years since I decided to be a Vegan and that decision wasn’t taken lightly; it made complete sense for me at the time and still does today. Lately, though, things have become difficult. Maybe it’s the holidays, maybe because I’ve started dating an amazing person who happens to be an omni, or perhaps maybe it’s just because I’ve become comfortable in my day to day routine that I began to forget why I do what I do. I began to go through the motions and not think about the reasons behind my Veganism: all those little lives, faces, feelings.

There are a lot of people I love in my life that don’t understand exactly why I’m Vegan, nor will they ever be Vegan themselves. I don’t judge them or love them any less for this. We are all on our own journeys and paths in life and I love them more for not judging my choices, but rather embracing who I am and incorporating aspects of that into their own lives.

So this isn’t some big, long, logical explanation about why I’m Vegan because there really isn’t one. It’s all emotion and all heart. I understand the other reasons and I use those arguments when people come at me defensively (which people tend to do when they find out I’m Vegan…what’s that about anyway?!), but if you want to know why I’m Vegan, I’ll simply show you why. (All photos were taken at Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, NY this summer).

Theresa is a rescued dairy cow. She would have been raped over and over again for 5 or 6 years to produce calves she couldn’t even give the milk that was meant for them. After which point she would have just been slaughtered and thrown out like trash. What? Did you think they just MADE the milk?

Then there’s Cash who would just have been used again and again for his wool. Think that’s not painful? Look up flystrike and you’ll think differently. He’s such a handsome boy:

Also, because I’m Vegan, chickies like these aren’t giving up their lives for me as nuggets, get to live beyond the 42 days of a broiler chicken, and don’t have to be ground up alive as a “by-product” of the egg industry. (And if you’ve never seen little chicken butts run to dinner time, you are missing one of the cutest things on Earth):

And lastly, make all the lame bacon jokes you want, but these guys are amazingly intelligent, sweet and loving. They aren’t meant to be on a pizza, BLT, or a double cheeseburger thankyouverymuch.

So really, that’s it and that’s all. It’s why I am who I am and why I do what I do. And what I’ll continue to do…for them. Now pass me Divine Cupcake, please. NOM.