I love being vegan. I eat so much more interesting food than I ever did as an omnivore, and definitely more healthy food. The best part is that I feel light, as if a burden has been lifted. I don't have the constant inner struggle with the guilt of knowing living beings were being killed and tortured merely for the pleasure of my tastebuds. I wrote a poem almost two years ago after seeing dairy cows in small muddy lots all across California. Let's just say they didn't look like happy cows to me...
California Dairy Cows
Black and white
milk machines bred for
my dining pleasure. Standing
foot deep in mud and
urine. Udders swollen with
food for stolen calves you will
never see again.
For my mint-chocolate-chip, you
will never graze green pastures. For
sour cream on a baked potato, you
sleep in shit. Buttering my toast
is cruel and unusual
punishment.
I don't have that guilt anymore and it feels wonderful. Franz Kafka is said to have summed it up very well while looking at fish in an aquarium...
"Now I can look at you in peace; I don't eat you any more."
