WHAT SIDE DO YOU STAND ON?
Before I went vegan, eating an omnivorous (= carnivorous) and vegetarian diet and not having a vegan mindset followed by aligned actions that represented my values, I didn’t even know that I was automatically promoting a way of living that is taking animals for granted, that makes other sentient beings “ours”, meaning our possession, ours to control, and ours to rule over.
I was never aware that my daily actions and decisions were automatically making someone else a commodity, an object, and a number. I was never aware I was determining someone else’s fate to get killed against their will. And this ... was never my intention. Little did I know that I was living a double standard for 29 years of my life.
It was never my intention to degrade non-human animals and to see them as less worthy than anyone else, because I always saw myself as an animal lover, as someone who at least respected the existence and the life and rights of animals.
ANIMALS THROUGH THE EYES AND HEARTS OF CHILDREN
I grew up loving books about animals and documentaries about native and wild animals. As a kid, I went outside and watched ladybugs, let them crawl on my finger holding them up high and letting them fly away. When it was raining outside I watched the earthworms and I rescued them from puddles. I picked up snails from busy sidewalks and relocalized them so that no one would accidentally step on them at day or night.
Zoos, aquariums, animal parks, etc. only exist to entertain humans under the pretext of education and conservation of biodiversity.
Yes, I also loved the aquarium and zoo and I never thought about circuses and aquaparks until I, of course, started to realize that those instituations are animal prisons whitewashing people stating a “good will”, “animal welfarism” and “species protection & research programs” to entertain people and make money to the detriment of the confined animals.
Even though I never knew about my double standard and hypocrisy I was living, I was always fascinated about animals, their unique traits, and peculiarities, and I could never understand why some people just don’t care for them at all.
STARTING TO SEE THE ANIMAL INDUSTRY FOR WHAT IT IS
Almost 3 years ago I started to see the animal industry for what it is. Little by little I realized that I had to start questioning everything I had ever learned and everything I was used to (especially my actions). I began to realize what is fundamentally wrong with this world and the views of our society and the way we treat each other, which is deeply rooted in how we learn to treat non-human animals: Loving some and using others. Also called Speciesism.
WHAT INJUSTICE DO WE SUBMIT TO?
The awareness of the violence perpetrated on innocent animals shocked me deeply and it was like bandages have been removed from my eyes. It woke me out of my naive and manipulated world view, which I had been shown to submit to. Submitting and supporting a system that benefits from the oppression and exploitation of others.
I have been following what’s legal and not what’s right. Legality does not equal morality though.
I realized I have been on the wrong side of history. I was on a side I didn’t want to be on, ever. Through my actions, I have been in support of animal husbandry, use, abuse, exploitation, violence, oppression, cruelty, and murder. I have been living by following what’s legal and not what’s right (legality does not equal morality). I have been bowing to a moral injustice that was not my intention as it does not align with my moral views.
WHO WE ARE, WHO WE ARE NOT, WHO WE SEEM TO BE, WHO WE WANT TO BE
It became so clear to me. I didn’t want to be the person that I didn’t know I was. I did not want to be the person responsible for the suffering and pain of others, but I wanted to be the person I never knew I wanted to be either. I wanted to be the woman who stands and fights for the freedom and rights of others. Through my liberation from a system that has been making me into someone I never wanted to be, I started to fight for the liberation of others.
Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. And that’s what my heart, my mind, and my whole body tell me each day. Whom do YOU want to be?
THERE IS NO RIGHT WAY TO DO THE WRONG THING
When it comes to using animals, including consumption, entertainment, or any kind of use, there is no balanced, humane middle way. For the individual it means to either live or to get murdered against their will. They don’t have a saying in what’s going to happen to them.
Please, now look at the graphic above, read through the words, and ask yourself how you see the value of life, concerning your own life and the lives of others. Position yourself where it feels right for you to stand by your moral and ethical values. And now look at your actions. Do your actions go hand in hand with the side you chose before?
~~~~~
PLEASE NOTE
* When the term "human" is used, then human animals are meant by it, and the same applies to the term "animal", who are non-human animals.