Why Vegan?

I am back after a week in Virginia with my best friend and Husband of one year. I am back and ready to get back to blogging.  I already did a blog about how I came to be a Christ Follower, so now it’s time for one about how I cam to be Vegan and why.

I am very new to being Vegan, in fact, I’m not 100% vegan yet but I’m working on getting there. In January I watched Food Inc. and saw how terrible the animals in most commercial farms were treated. The fact that animals used to create commercial meat were not treated well came as no surprise to me but it was something that I chose not to think about.   Problem solved…I chose to eat only “free range” chicken, beef, milk and eggs.

This lasted only a short while before the term “humanely slaughtered” came to sound like bit of an oxymoron. When used for food “humane” and “slaughter” can go hand in hand, but with regards to humans “slaughtered” always brings thoughts of brutality. I dare say that to hear someone was “slaughtered” renders a much more painful picture than even the word “murdered.” I did not want to contribute to the slaughter of any living being. I have eaten bites of meat since making the decision to become vegetarian but with each taste I became increasingly disgusted at the thought of an animal being sacrificed for the pleasure of my palate.

More time passed, and I wanted to know why some people felt that a vegan lifestyle was more kind than just vegetarian; cows produce milk anyway, right? It had never occurred to me that cows and goats do not just naturally produce milk in abundance. I had a picture in my head of a happy little cow, with her happy little family, providing milk for her young with an abundance to spare thus “giving” us milk for our cereal and cheese for my now veggie burgers. How could my vision have been so skewed?

It had never occurred to me that cows and goats do NOT naturally produce milk and when they do produce it, there is little extra from what the calf should be consuming. In reality, dairy cows are raped annually and within days of giving birth her child is taken from her loving care and sacrificed to the veal industry or given to live the life of her mother; a life of continually birthing and being separated from her young. If a cow were allowed to feed her young, where would I get milk for cheese and cereal?

Now, aware of the suffering caused by my bacon ultimate cheeseburger or chocolate truffle, I’d rather just pass. There are so many vegan alternatives these days, it’s not like I’m making a sacrifice anyway.