I was a vegetarian before I started subscribing to ARO.
My reason was simple: killing animals for food we didn't need was
unethical and sick. There was no excuse or justification anyone could
throw in my path to dissuade me.
I still drank milk and ate rennet-less cheese and eggs.
My thought was that no one had to DIE for me to consume these things, so
it was okay, and in keeping with my unbending ethics. The concept of
veganism seemed so extreme to me, admittedly, almost like lunacy.
Then, I got a grip on the whole picture. I have you guys
at ARO to thank for this, because I didn't know (or deluded myself
perhaps) how milk production was linked to veal or how a simple egg is
the end result of a tortured and miserable life of a caged chicken. They
couldn't be MORE connected, and I was a participant in their suffering
because I couldn't give up my damn cheese pizza and lattes.
I am now a vegan, and my whole sense of being has
changed. I wasn't even aware of the burden my conscience was carrying
around until I made this switch. My eyes feel more open than ever and my
body feels better too. As I have explained to my dumbfounded friends who
groan, "Oh, Jeez. What's left to eat now?", I feel significantly better
than when I made the meat-eating to vegetarian shift. It's like this
nagging sense of hypocrisy is 100% gone, and has been absent since I
became vegan.
Strangely, it was much easier than I had imagined. I had
big plans to order one last cheese pizza, a large, and greedily eat the
whole thing myself before I swore off all dairy forever. I picked up the
phone and ordered, "A medium vegetarian pizza, no cheese." The cheese
pizza could never happen again, not even this one last time.
That was it. I was over the hump before I was even aware
of it. My body will no longer allow itself to consume things that are
against my soul's integrity and ethics. I have arrived!
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