From the age of eight until the age of twenty-two I enjoyed one of the most precious friendships I ever hope to be gifted with. I had a best friend in the form of a Beagle. He was my constant companion; we grew up alongside each other, sometimes lost our temper with each other (but always made up) and comforted each other during difficult times. Losing him was one of the hardest things I've ever done and I still miss him everyday. One of his most inspiring personality traits was that he never whinged. He was so stoic. Over the years there were times when he was sick or he was injured and he never ever once complained. I thought it was just one of the wonderful things about my dog in particular, but when I came across this post on the inspirational Tree Kisser I realised it was a characteristic he was destined to have.
As a vegan I am obviously against testing on animals, as well as being against animal experimentation in the name of 'scientific research'. Even so, reading Tree Kisser's post made me burst into tears because I know firsthand the loving and gentle nature of a Beagle. Obviously all animals are deserving of protection and freedom from barbaric practices like product testing, but I guess the image of those poor little guys really hit home. I remember seeing a few of them while I was watching Earthlings, in cages, with wounds and obviously ill and in pain. But there was no malice there, no anger. Only sadness and disappointment. As if mankind weren't horrible enough, I try to imagine the reaction humans would have if kept in the same horrific conditions and routinely tortured. We certainly wouldn't be anywhere NEAR as forgiving, placid and sweet-natured.
So everytime you buy some moisturiser or foundation, mascara, lipstick, shampoo, conditioner or even just handsoap, look for a label that says 'we do not test on animals'. Free yourself from complicity in the systematised torture, abuse and murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent, trusting creatures. It's just not necessary and it's absolutely heartbreaking.
Showing posts with label Earthlings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Earthlings. Show all posts
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Earthlings
Health reasons weren't what got me off on this path in the first place. It was empathy.
As a child, I was acutely aware of the fact that I had empathy. I also knew that I had too much of it. My sensitivity to others was at times so overwhelming I used to wish I could be the complete opposite: heartless and indifferent, just so that I could have a break. I hope this doesn't sound conceited, but it's true. I used to stress about the ants I was inadvertently killing any time I walked outside. I was sensitive to a fault. So when I finally stopped the disconnect and realised I could no longer participate in animal slaughter, the floodgates opened, and becoming vegan was in hindsight a logical transition.
I've mentioned that the big moment for me was when I chose not to watch animal slaughter. This was nothing new or surprising, it was just that I'd never been presented with an opportunity before. When I found out about Earthlings through an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, researched it, and, of course, talked about it with my partner, there was no doubt in my mind that this was something I didn't want to see. I remember looking it up on IMDb for the content advisory: the film was basically non-stop slaughter. For those that haven't seen it, the film started out as a project led by director Shaun Monson who wanted to do an expose on the pet industry in America: puppy mills, unwanted animals and the like. But the final result is so much more. It focuses on how humans use animals for profit in five areas: pets, food, clothing, entertainment and science.
My partner ordered the DVD from the US, and there was a quote on the package that made me realise I was being selfish. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: "We must not refuse with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies." So I sat down on the couch, legs tucked in, heart racing in nervous anticipation, peeking out from behind a cushion. I later had to drop the cushion because I needed my hands to hold tissues instead. I cried during this film, I cried the entire way through. I had to really fight to keep it together enough that I could continue watching, because every instinct in me was telling me to curl up on the floor in a ball, shut my eyes tight and bawl my heart out.
Earthlings has been nicknamed "the vegan maker" for good reason. I was already vegan, but Bryce Dallas Howard summed it up really well when she said, "Watching Earthlings is the greatest gift I have ever received. I cannot believe how ignorant I have been in the past."
This film is a miracle, it really is. It's insane the degree to which we humans live in total ignorance, happily consuming, consuming, consuming without even a second thought as to where our steak, our eggs, our jacket, our furniture or our pets come from, or what is behind our makeup, our soap, our zoos and our circuses. It's frightening, disgusting, but above all absolutely heartbreaking. To echo Bryce Dallas Howard, I am truly so glad I know what I do so that I can choose not to be a part of it.
As a child, I was acutely aware of the fact that I had empathy. I also knew that I had too much of it. My sensitivity to others was at times so overwhelming I used to wish I could be the complete opposite: heartless and indifferent, just so that I could have a break. I hope this doesn't sound conceited, but it's true. I used to stress about the ants I was inadvertently killing any time I walked outside. I was sensitive to a fault. So when I finally stopped the disconnect and realised I could no longer participate in animal slaughter, the floodgates opened, and becoming vegan was in hindsight a logical transition.
I've mentioned that the big moment for me was when I chose not to watch animal slaughter. This was nothing new or surprising, it was just that I'd never been presented with an opportunity before. When I found out about Earthlings through an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, researched it, and, of course, talked about it with my partner, there was no doubt in my mind that this was something I didn't want to see. I remember looking it up on IMDb for the content advisory: the film was basically non-stop slaughter. For those that haven't seen it, the film started out as a project led by director Shaun Monson who wanted to do an expose on the pet industry in America: puppy mills, unwanted animals and the like. But the final result is so much more. It focuses on how humans use animals for profit in five areas: pets, food, clothing, entertainment and science.
My partner ordered the DVD from the US, and there was a quote on the package that made me realise I was being selfish. I've said it before, but I'll say it again: "We must not refuse with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies." So I sat down on the couch, legs tucked in, heart racing in nervous anticipation, peeking out from behind a cushion. I later had to drop the cushion because I needed my hands to hold tissues instead. I cried during this film, I cried the entire way through. I had to really fight to keep it together enough that I could continue watching, because every instinct in me was telling me to curl up on the floor in a ball, shut my eyes tight and bawl my heart out.
Earthlings has been nicknamed "the vegan maker" for good reason. I was already vegan, but Bryce Dallas Howard summed it up really well when she said, "Watching Earthlings is the greatest gift I have ever received. I cannot believe how ignorant I have been in the past."
This film is a miracle, it really is. It's insane the degree to which we humans live in total ignorance, happily consuming, consuming, consuming without even a second thought as to where our steak, our eggs, our jacket, our furniture or our pets come from, or what is behind our makeup, our soap, our zoos and our circuses. It's frightening, disgusting, but above all absolutely heartbreaking. To echo Bryce Dallas Howard, I am truly so glad I know what I do so that I can choose not to be a part of it.
Thursday, 29 December 2011
History continued...
So yes, I took the not uncommon path of being a vegetarian before a vegan. Actually, I will freely admit, I used to make fun of vegans. When explaining my new dietary choices to friends and relatives, I would often have to make a distinction between vegetarianism and veganism, often by saying something along the lines of, "Yes, I still eat cheese. I'm not a bloody hippie/crazy vegan/one of those people." I thought vegans were weird, over the top, fanatical. What the hell was wrong with eating honey? Cows need to be milked or their udders will get sore, etc. etc. I had no intention of cutting the deliciousness that is dairy products out of my diet. Those that know me best know I would happily survive on a diet of cheese, chocolate, icecream, pasta, bread, chocolate and cheese. Oh and some more cheese.
It wasn't until one day I was explaining myself yet again ("No, I'm not a crazy vegan, yes, I still have dairy") that my brother asked me if I was aware of bobby calves and the role they play in the dairy industry. "Look it up," he told me. I still remember discussing it with my partner before we did any research. We were holding off because we didn't know if we would like what we'd find. I knew one thing: I did not want to be a vegan. I just liked dairy way too much. But we knew that we were choosing to live in denial if we didn't enlighten ourselves. So, one day, I sat down at the computer and I typed 'bobby calves' into the search engine... and that was the beginning of the end of my vegetarianism. As much as I didn't want to cut food that tasted good out of my life, the truth was staring me in the face: there were so many more harmful processes that I was buying into.
In all honesty, becoming vegan was a gradual process for me, even after I knew everything I did about bees, chickens, cows and the industries related to their produce. My resolve grew as time passed... I know I would have become as strict as I am now (in other words, just plain vegan) eventually. But the two things that pushed me across the threshold? The China Study, and Earthlings.
It wasn't until one day I was explaining myself yet again ("No, I'm not a crazy vegan, yes, I still have dairy") that my brother asked me if I was aware of bobby calves and the role they play in the dairy industry. "Look it up," he told me. I still remember discussing it with my partner before we did any research. We were holding off because we didn't know if we would like what we'd find. I knew one thing: I did not want to be a vegan. I just liked dairy way too much. But we knew that we were choosing to live in denial if we didn't enlighten ourselves. So, one day, I sat down at the computer and I typed 'bobby calves' into the search engine... and that was the beginning of the end of my vegetarianism. As much as I didn't want to cut food that tasted good out of my life, the truth was staring me in the face: there were so many more harmful processes that I was buying into.
In all honesty, becoming vegan was a gradual process for me, even after I knew everything I did about bees, chickens, cows and the industries related to their produce. My resolve grew as time passed... I know I would have become as strict as I am now (in other words, just plain vegan) eventually. But the two things that pushed me across the threshold? The China Study, and Earthlings.
The rest, as they say, is history
So how did this all begin? Veganism is a lifestyle choice, not just a diet. Veganism dictates the products we buy, the clothes we wear, as well as the food that we eat. It's a big step. So how did I come to make the decision to live this way?
It all began on an ordinary Friday night in May. My partner and I were following our Friday night ritual: takeaway food and a movie. The movie this night was Fast Food Nation. The DVD cover included the rating at the bottom, with the description: "contains scenes of animal slaughter". Needless to say, I spent the whole film flinching at fast scene changes, wondering when the dreaded moment would arrive. When it finally did at the end of the film, I looked away and asked my partner to mute. I had always been a sensitive person, an animal lover, and this was something I knew I did not want to see. But when the film finished, something clicked in my brain. It was put much more eloquently than I ever could on the package of the Earthlings DVD mailed to my partner's house from the US: "We must not refuse with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies." (Later I reinterpreted this phrase: looking away was not enough and it was this that gave me the final push to watch Earthlings, even though I was no longer an accessory to murder.) Originally, my thinking was that if I couldn't even watch animal slaughter then why was I choosing to be complicit? I made the decision then and there to become vegetarian. For the record, my takeaway that night was one of my favourites: ham and salad Subway with double cheese. That was the last time I ever ate the flesh of another animal.
It all began on an ordinary Friday night in May. My partner and I were following our Friday night ritual: takeaway food and a movie. The movie this night was Fast Food Nation. The DVD cover included the rating at the bottom, with the description: "contains scenes of animal slaughter". Needless to say, I spent the whole film flinching at fast scene changes, wondering when the dreaded moment would arrive. When it finally did at the end of the film, I looked away and asked my partner to mute. I had always been a sensitive person, an animal lover, and this was something I knew I did not want to see. But when the film finished, something clicked in my brain. It was put much more eloquently than I ever could on the package of the Earthlings DVD mailed to my partner's house from the US: "We must not refuse with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies." (Later I reinterpreted this phrase: looking away was not enough and it was this that gave me the final push to watch Earthlings, even though I was no longer an accessory to murder.) Originally, my thinking was that if I couldn't even watch animal slaughter then why was I choosing to be complicit? I made the decision then and there to become vegetarian. For the record, my takeaway that night was one of my favourites: ham and salad Subway with double cheese. That was the last time I ever ate the flesh of another animal.
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