My Vegan Story I grew up in the farming heartland of midwest USA, where we ate meat three times a day and had cows milk on tap in our kitchen. There are twelve of us kids and my mother still took in strays so we always had much loved dogs living with us, who were part of the family. My favorite childhood foods were Dads BBQ pork steaks, ham sandwiches smothered in mayonnaise and my grandmothers famous fried chicken (now I shiver). And of course we drank milk instead of water. My university was highly noted for animal agriculture, engineering and who was Pork Queen. I met and married a Chinese Australian and after living in England a year we bicycled overland to Australia in 1974. On a bright sunny day in rugged country Greece we stopped to play with a herd of goats and their kids. I remember my joy clearly. Shortly after, we stopped at a roadside cafe and there inside a cauldron of soup bobbed a goats head. Ill never forget my shock. The bubble burst and I went vegetarian on the spot, I was 24. Fish didnt follow until three years later when I witnessed a three meter shark proudly displayed at Port Fairy after she had been taken from the sea. I saw, looking into her eyes, that fish arent vegetables, but very much individuals like you and me. It took me so much longer to become a vegan, like many people I thought cows shared their milk with us and no one got hurt or died. How wrong I was and Ive ached that it took me so long to accept that dairy is exceptionally cruel. Separating mothers from babies, killing the babies to suckle their mums teats instead; and to do this over and over and over again until we kill mum too. I first tried being vegan in 1984 after witnessing dairy cows having their tails cut off at a dairy feedlot in Charlton. The cows bellowed in pain and the blood squirted from their severed horns like a hose. I only lasted a few months, I didnt even know how to pronounce the word and Vaygans were aliens back then. I tried several more times but cheese was my downfall and comfort food. I brought my two children up vegetarian and when my son turned 15 in 1991 he chose to live vegan. Having another vegan in the household did the trick and for 23 years now Ive never looked back. Its hard to feel and/or be isolated due to ones food choices (which after breathing is what we do most). But this is changing dramatically in the internet age as people are learning, thinking, caring and acting to put justice in their lives and to stop harming and killing others. For animals... #VeganEasyChallenge #NewYearsResolution #MyVeganStory
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 01:08:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015