I'm vegan, right?

Hi everybody!

I'm writing this time in English and I'll talk about a tough topic: veganism. Don't look at me like that, it was my English teacher's idea, I promise!

Why veganism? I have plenty of reasons, as you can imagine. I'll try to sum up the most important for me:

We're not as different as you think

*Feelings. Yes, animals (and please don't forget that we're also animals) have feelings. All of us who have or have had a pet as a dog or a cat perfectly know that our animals can suffer, be happy, be stressed... They can't speak our verbal language, but I think we all can spot a sad look in the bear of the zoo or know if a dog is happy or not by their body language.

So we can see that they have feelings because they show those feelings. They're aware of the surrondings, they try to avoid suffering and they look for safety... a lot like us, isn't it?

Then, what do make them perfect to be eaten and used and not dogs, cats or even us, the humans? What's the difference? Our culture, that's it. So, is it a cultural issue? Yes, it is. Can we change that? Of course we can, but we have to want it. And I'm not going to lie to you: it's not easy. Leaving your comfort zone is never easy, but it's worth it.

*Empathy. The empathy is something natural in all the animals. When we were kids we had it very developed. Mum used to lie us about what we were eating, and we didn't doubt in making a hunger strike if we were suspicious. We used to learn the animals sounds, and our parents encouraged us to love and be respectful to all the animals. How those same people were going to put those animals in your dish?

You grow up and that link to animals loses its strength. You start to take for granted that animals are for that, and you break your initial link. You lose your empathy, but it can be recovered. I lost mine, but I reconnected to it and I'm happier than ever with the food I eat and how my body feels.

Do you think that we're allowed to do whatever we want to other animals because we are superior? How can you know that? Only because you can't communicate with other animals as you do with people, it doesn't mean they aren't intelligent. They can be very intelligent but you can be unable to understand them. Let me give you an example to this:

-Help! Help! Help!
If he sings so much it means he's happy.

Ants are small and they aren't aware that we humans exist. Imagine that here exists another animal bigger than us, and we aren't aware of them, as ants aren't of us. Imagine that they try to communicate with us, but they can't because their language is completely different to ours, and they just think we're dumb, just as you might think of other animals. As they are stronger than you are, they could use you for whatever they find useful: your flesh, your hair, your skin, or even your sing... They seem completely superior to you, but would you find this ethical? You have feelings, don't you? You have rights, you're human, but that doesn't mean anything for our gigants fellows.

You'd like to smell the herb, to feel the sun in your skin, to eat fresh fruit, to have the mouth full of flavours, to be in love, to look after your kids, to have at least one chance to seize that for the last time. But you couldn't choose, as the millions of animales killed everyday which have never seen the sun, which cry for days, weeks and months because they are pulled apart from their babies since their birth. They had no choice, since they were born. But we do have a choice...

We can be either these gigants or a compassive person, who cares about the feelings that all the animal kingdom have. It's up to you. Let's be honest: we all know that animals are mistreated worldwide in the farm industry. The growing population, the competence, the prices... They need to produce more and more in less space, and in most of the cases, the animals welfare is none of their interests. And you wouldn't want to look inside those farms, but you eat with no questions. Why, as the vegan activist Gary Yourofsky said, is not good enough for your eyes but it's good for your stomach?

-I hate the way they scream when you boil them!
-It's not screaming.
It's just the air escaping.

I must confess that I don't understand why someone asks me about why I don't eat this or that, and as soon as I start to give my reasons, they cut me:" Stop it, stop it, I don't want to know"; "Oh, I hate you, you spoilt my meal"; "I'd rather not to know and keep eating bacon, so yummy!"

I remember I used to smoke and I never refused to know the harm of smoking, how it was produced or anything related to the thing I was funding. I really don't understand (especially in those who ask first) why they don't want to know where their food comes from. 

*Health. As the recent research of the OMS the comsumption of meat can cause some cancers, and that doesn't surprise me. The way that the animals are treated, fed and killed are wrong, and all that sickness is in your steak.

-Mad Cow Disease, avian flu...
-Any other ideas for turning people vegan?

If you become vegan you'll have to care about what you eat and how you eat, exactly the same as if you're not vegan. For me it's important to eat ecological vegetables, to preserve our environment, and also I try to eat a varied diet. You might not believe me but I eat more varietied now that I'm vegan than before.

I make a blood test once per a year, and my doctor always tells me: "you're perfect, as expected, you've got to turn the rest of the town vegan".

What about B12? B12 is a bacteria that vegans have often to be supplemented, but in the meat is also added. By the way, I control my levels of B12 in the blood test and is always above the average.

*Unnecessary. You might ask why not to eat the products of the animals without harming them: Because that it's close to imposible. 

No, I don't need milk, and neither do you. Cows produce milk for their babies, and they're stolen from her for you to have that glass of milk, which by the way is not good for you. There are plenty of studies that show that milk causes diseases like osteoporosis, and we can only digest it properly while we're kids. The milk is only good while you're a child, and the only good milk is from your mother and from your own specie. We're the only animal specie that continues drinking milk after their childhood.

The cow's milk is designed for their calves, an animal which is going to grow to 750 kilogramos, so they need lot of fats and proteins for grown strong and fast. We don't need that much!

Concerning to eggs, a chicken would produce very few eggs during the year, but it produces more and more because someone has stolen them, and they get stressed. They die prematurely because the lack of vitamins for laying so many eggs, and their eggs are often stuck in their body and they die painfully. Not to mention that the majority are in cages with the lights always on, they cut their peaks without anesthesia to prevent their hurt themselves or other and you could say: That's not life...

Alright, and what about wool? Isn't that good? No, it isn't. The sheeps are selectioned to produce more and more hair. and that produces them lot of diseases, like heatstroke, worms and infections in their excessive folds, they suffer lot of stress and cuts when they are sheared, and we definitely don't need their hair, as we don't need the leather of cows or other animals. We have plenty of choices: cotton, line, synthetic products...

And what about honey? You think you got me here? Nope! The honey is bee's vomit, they make their product for themselves, and the methods to get the honey from the bees also killed millions of them, which is a big pity, as they're so important in our nature.

There are lots of trade marks for beauty, cleaning, etc. that use animals for testing their products in their skin, eyes or whatever they find useful; causing the animals long hours of suffering. Here you are a website with trade marks which don't test on animals, as you may be interested.

In the case of the medical researches which use animals to prove or investigate, I have the same opinion here, although you may be taken aback. The reason is that the proves in other animals are cruel and it doesn't mean it is going to work in humans, as we're not the same specie.

*Planet. In this planet it's not sustainable the animal industry. We're in an overpopulated world (more than 7 billion of people, and we'll be 9 billion by 2050) and soon it'll be impossible to feed all the world. 

The water and land needed for feeding the animals is much more than the water and land needed to plant vegetables for people.

*Respect. Yes, the veganism also refuses other kinds of animal exploitation, other than food. I reject any activity or show that uses animal as an attraction. They work long hours, they're sad, away from their nature, they're mistreated, and they must not be an amusement for anybody. We refuse circus, zoos, and all kind of use and abuse of animals, such as films, sports, public amusment, parties, decoration...

I'm vegan for so many years and I am happier and healthier than ever, why don't you give it a try? Do you have a good reason, or is your convenience more important than animals' welfare?

As you can check for yourself you can have fun, you can eat, you can dress without hurting or using animals. One more time is up to you. Unfortunately there is no way to have both: to respect animals and use them for food, amusement, or cloth. You can keep on founding that suffering, or try to cut it up. Be compassive as you would like they were to you, would not you?