It's weird how somethings can affect us so deeply. Morally, spiritually...naturally. In everyone's life something happens to them so profound, their entire outlook on something or the whole universe changes.
Anyone who knows me understands that I am a wandering soul looking for answers to life's toughest questions: Does time have a beginning? What is the meaning of life? Can people be moral without religion? And while I've come up with my own conclusions on some of these universal topics through self-study of different schools of thought... including religious doctrines, there is something that truly leaves me dumbfounded: the human mind. Our rationalization in categorizing one inhumane act over another and calling it a 'necessity'. Maybe it's selected hearing or seeing, willful ignorance, or apathy to the natural law of our planet's interconnectedness. All I know is... I used to think this way.
I was 18yrs old when I decided to swear off pork after watching the movie Malcolm X, starring Denzel W., and 19 when I swore off red meat. I had gained a lot of weight in the first couple of years in college and I felt I could live without this source of protein since it contained more bad fat than good.
For the next 3 years I moved back and forth between white meat and red until finally I became very strict with just ingesting white meat or seafood. I was comfortable with my diet, but I played with the idea of going vegetarian. One of my best friends of 13 years is vegetarian and though I've never gave it much thought before after finding an abandoned pamphlet on factory farms ... something awoke inside. The level of empathy I had for the conditions animals had to live in surprised even ME. And anyone who knows me personally knows how I feel about babies... so that's saying a lot for something that isn't even within my own species. Still, the pamplet was based on American factory farming and I went in search of the conditions in Canada. Surprisingly I found propaganda on both sides of this hot topic: some company-owned/family-owned farms swear by their "Ol' McDonald" farm conditions that their fleet live in, and others debunking highly marketed terms like "free-range" and "cage-free" with pictures of animals only weeks old being sent to slaughter.
After much internal conflict, I resolved to take steps to becoming a vegan. It was somewhat easy to give up chicken; I was just getting used to my own cooking of it without making myself sick (besides, cooking with soy chick'n strip is easier anyway). But giving up seafood and all forms of dairy was another story. In short, I have been practicing a predominantly pescetarian diet who abstains from all forms of dairy. I'm not going to lie, I have fallen from grace, but old habits are hard to break. I simply resolve and remind myself of the impact I was making with each blood, sweat, and tear-earned dollar I had. This significant change opened up my palate to more food options often found in smaller portions on my plate. And not long after, I began to enjoy getting to know all the dairy-free or mock dairy options that were available.
I began to enjoy more of my vegetarian meals throughout this summer, and limit my intake of having fish protein everyday (only had tuna or shrimp twice a week) while doing my best to abstain from dairy products. Mind you, I ain't perfect, and I have strayed a few times in this journey.
One night when I was viewing some videos about why people went vegan, one mentioned that they watched a movie called Earthlings:
When Ellen Degeneres, who is married to Portia Di Rossi, was asked about Food Inc., she simply stated " Food Inc.?? Food Inc. is a Disney movie compared to Earthlings." There was some weight to her comment that struck me. And, having never seen any footage of either movie before, I decided to watch Earthlings first.
Many people nickname it "The Vegan Maker"- and they're right about that fact. This AMAZING film brought a lot of many different hidden truths to light, and I can't thank enough all the people who put the time and effort into making this movie! The suffering these animals go through in their short lives kept reminding me of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Holocaust - there were many people in the comments section who disagreed and found the comparison offensive... but if you're BLACK and the crux of your earliest knowledge regarding the history about your people began with the Slave trade, it's hard to NOT see the difference - Blacks were seen (and still are through their underemployment) as cheap labour. Not only West African descendants, but Latinos and Jews can surely attest to the same treatment in their own histories - when their very existence was nothing more than someone else's plaything... or machine .
So when I see a mother cow artificially inseminated, only to produce milk and all her male sons are butchered soon afterwards to make veal... I can't help but think of the breeding methods used in Slavery, and how Black women had to nurse her master's child over her own. Or the random killings of the Nazi regime at Auschwitz simply "because" when I see people hunting wildlife for sport.
It really opened my eyes. And since becoming more in-tuned with my natural surroundings this past year, growing more and more aware of my connection with the world and the universe, I have become more determined than ever to practice Veganism in the healthiest way I know how. There is no doubt in my mind I may waver, but that is no excuse to not try, and try again. Every new endeavour begins with a single step... and I want this one to be in the right direction.
Question: Have you seen the movie Earthlings? What are your thoughts on Veganism, on Animal Rights? PETA?
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