My biggest disappointment is the failure to make the moral and legal status of animals a mainstream political issue alongside, for example, the economy, defence, climate crisis, human rights, and so on. Consequently, we continue to kill billions of animals for human consumption. Going vegan and speaking out for animals are important steps for people to take. However, optional lifestyle choices must be complemented with initiatives that seek institutional, political, and legal change for animals.
Mandy inspired me to go vegetarian. I am forever grateful to her.
On January 1, 1974, I became a vegetarian while I was a student at
Westminster College in London, learning how to cook French cuisine and
manage posh restaurants. During the summer of 1973, I worked in a chicken
slaughterhouse.
In September, I returned to college for my last year. I was anxious to meet
up with my friend Amanda, who was in the year below me. She was the only
vegetarian I knew. I couldn’t wait to argue with her, even make her cry, at
what I’d been doing. I took out on Amanda what I couldn’t deal with in
myself. My growing awareness of animal cruelty and killing.
Amanda and I argued back and forth about how or whether it was cruel to eat
meat. I can’t recall the details of our conversations, but no doubt I came
up with all the stupid and self-serving reasons for why I should continue to
eat animals that I have countered ever since.
Thankfully, Amanda was unassuming and patient, hearing me out. Simply put,
she won: Amanda convinced me that eating meat was wrong. Two years later, I
was a vegan working full-time for Compassion In World Farming campaigning
against industrial animal agriculture.
Looking back over a half-century of vegan animal rights advocacy, I’m embarrassed by some of my comments, decisions, and actions but proud of these accomplishments.
My biggest disappointment is the failure to make the moral and legal status of animals a mainstream political issue alongside, for example, the economy, defence, climate crisis, human rights, and so on. Consequently, we continue to kill billions of animals for human consumption. Going vegan and speaking out for animals are important steps for people to take. However, optional lifestyle choices must be complemented with initiatives that seek institutional, political, and legal change for animals.
Kim and Shelly
Posted on All-Creatures: December 31, 2024
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