30 Days of Vegan (Day 30); The Vegan Verdict

Back in 2009, I got my second tattoo. To me, it was a big deal.. because it was going on my forearm. My first was on my hip, hidden away from the world. This one, by nature, was one I wanted people to see. I wanted to be associated with what it meant.

This is the tattoo:

It is a Buddhist mantra (Om Mani Padme Hum); which basically is a call to be compassionate to all sentient beings.

When I got this tattoo, I wasn't even a vegetarian yet. In fact, I remember going to eat Skyline chili right after getting it. At the time, for me, the tattoo really only meant 'be kind to people.'

Even though I was always an animal lover.. it never crossed my mind that what I was eating.. was the opposite of being compassionate. They weren't my pets. They weren't important enough to think about. -- Out of sight. Out of mind. --

And it's really not until just now.. that I realize I got this tattoo a little before its time.. in almost a serendipitous fashion. Each day, it had been staring me in the face. "Be compassionate. Be compassionate to every living and feeling thing."

I finally feel like I'm living up to it.

So, my verdict is.. I intend to be vegan for life.

I really can't imagine going back now. I know it sounds a bit melodramatic.. but even a glass of milk feels like poison to my soul anymore.

And in case you'd like a brief summary of how I arrived here, let me go over the key factors that have arisen in these 30 days.

1) Health:

Study after study has shown that a veggie-based (whole foods people, not Oreos) diets provide better health, longer life span, and may even reverse some illnesses.

Diets high in animal products are directly linked to heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, and several cancers. Sound familiar? That's because it's the Who's Who of what's killing us in our society.

Personally, I feel more energetic. I sleep better. My eyes are clearer. And I've lost around 5 lbs without any exercise.

So, for health.. gotta say -- Vegan.

2) Environment:

As many of my blogs have discussed, meat production is a huge contributor to green-house gases; beating out all of transportation combined. It pollutes our waterways with toxic runoff. It takes far more water to raise a pound of beef, than to grow a pound of vegetables. We're clearing land (including rainforest) at an alarming rate, in order to create pasture for livestock. To grow the same amount of plant-based, we'd need far less space.

In other words, it's not sustainable. If the entire world ate a western diet, we'd need two planets to grow the food and raise the livestock. And news flash.. we've only got one.

Environment.. goes to -- Vegan

3) Evolution:

This seems to be the big one. The one the omnivores fall back on, when they know there's no way to defend or explain the issues with health and the environment.

Yes, I understand that we're at the top of the food chain. But that doesn't grant us the right to a god complex. That anything lesser than us belongs to us. It is ours to confine, to use for our own pleasure, to torture, or to slaughter.

If one wants to argue that we're 'designed' to eat meat.. fine. Then hunt it; with respect and reverence. That's what we're 'designed' to actually do; since the advent of fire. But that's not what we really do anymore.

Nor were we ever 'designed' to consume the lactation of another species. If I suggested that we all start forcefully impregnating our dogs and milking them, you'd call me crazy. But that's what we do to dairy cows.

We like to envision the "Happy Cows" of California. Or the "Laughing Cow" portrayed on those cute little cheese wedges.

But that is not the reality. 10 BILLION animals are slaughtered each year.. just in the United States. 58 billion worldwide. You cannot churn out those kinds of numbers.. and still have "Happy Cows" roaming on a pasture their entire lives. You also can't slaughter that many animals and still maintain that you see them as anything of real value.

In order to keep up with that pace, small family farms are disappearing. Large, so called 'factory farms,' have taken their place. We have turned farming livestock completely industrial. Cold. Ruthless. Cruel. That kind of brutal efficiency may be fine for crops. It's not fine for sentient beings that feel loss, anxiety, and pain.

And we all know it. We just don't want to think about it.

Like in so many cases of human existence.. just because we have evolved to where we CAN. Doesn't mean that we SHOULD.

A staff member from a slaughterhouse had gone to the farm to single out a few hogs, prompting the terrified animals to start wailing. “Except for one piglet, which abruptly quieted down when I took it in my hands and then it looked me right in the eyes, as if saying: ‘How could you do this to me?’ That look in its eyes shattered me and kept me awake all night." - Lo Hung-hsien (former pig farmer, turned animal rights activist)

Evolution creates ability.. not a rule that must be followed. Not a requirement. And isn't the whole idea of evolution supposed to increase our chances of survival? Yet, we've pushed so hard to maintain this "right" that it's actually harming us.. by means of the environment, and our own health. So it's hard to argue that by implementing our evolutionary abilities, we're killing ourselves.. and somehow it's a good thing.. or the right thing.

We can now push through our instincts.. to do better. To be better.

What evolution has provided us is.. understanding, empathy, forethought, and compassion.

 "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." - Gandhi

So, in spite of what evolution has made possible, my only logical conclusion is -- Vegan.

In reality, all that spurs us to eat meat.. is ego, and greed. We're the highest. We control everything. We do what we please. And I take as much as I want.

Those are not ideals that we should be proud of. Those ideals are slowly killing us.

So, the verdict is obvious.

I chose the tattoo years ago. But I fully choose what it means, today.

I choose compassion.

If you also choose compassion, please help by donating to the Farm Sanctuary.