I have a lot of friends who call themselves animal lovers.

You would never catch them being cruel to a cat or dog. Many of them
have companion animals, and they treat those animals very well. Their
companion animals are family members, in every sense of the meaning.
In many ways, in fact, I believe we are more humane to our animal
companions than to our own fellow humans. We don't wage wars against
cats and dogs. We don't generally judge superiority or inferiority
based on colour or breed. We don't care about what colour eyes our cat
or dog might have.

But I'm not going to talk about our companion animals.

Instead, I am going to talk about the forgotten animals. The millions
of lost souls who, even as I sit here and type, are dying the slow
death of their lives in battery cages, in sow stalls, in veal crates,
and in feedlots. I try to not get emotional when I think of their
suffering, but it is so hard. I try to harden my heart to reality, so
that it won't disturb my sleep. I try to laugh and smile when good
friends order meat at restaurants, even though I know so well where
that meat came from, and the suffering that it caused. I watch in
silence, or sometimes in conversation, as that very suffering is
served up with orange sauce, or in a stir-fry, or perhaps battered,
roasted or grilled.

I wouldn't call myself an overly compassionate person. I'm just your
everyday Jane. But when I think of the animals that are in our 'food
stream' it upsets me. Why I feel the pain so strongly of the animals
we cause to suffer I don't think I will ever completely understand.
I'm no different to the next person. Or am I?

What makes a person into a vegetarian or a vegan, anyway? What made me
become a vegan? I can't even really remember anymore. I just know that
it was something that I had to do. I couldn't stand the hypocrisy of
my life any more. I couldn't stand calling myself an animal-lover
(just like any person who might be reading this 'rant') while
continuing to eat meat and cause agony to the nameless animals that
found their way onto my plate.

Something just 'clicked' - and once it had, there was no turning back.
I can't even remember what it was, but something opened my eyes. From
that point on I was spiraling along a path that would inevitably lead
me to veganism.

Every step I took along the path of veganism, I felt better. I was
making a difference. Maybe not to the millions, but at least to a few
animals. I didn't like the way the meat industry operated, so I opted
out. Such a simple thing to do, but one of the most powerful
statements a person can make. To say 'no' to the majority, to the
mainstream, can be hard sometimes. Yet this was so simple, and so easy.

In this life, we all have a choice: to do what is easy, or to do what
is right. I voted with my feet. I couldn't bear any longer to talk the
talk of being a freedom-lover, an animal-lover, and of being a good
person. I couldn't bear the hypocrisy of walking the walk of cruelty,
and of supporting the industries of pain and suffering at every meal.

I chose to do what is right. I turned my back on the easy path. I
sided with the animals, and with the vegans, and with the vegetarians.
I sided with the people of the world who truly value freedom, and
honesty, and charity, and love.

Now, several years along that path, I look backwards in amazement. I
have so much to thank veganism for. Something incredibly profound in
me has changed. I have found a life of compassion, and service, and
love. I know that I am a good person. Outwardly I still look the same.
Within me, I feel complete. I have found who I was meant to be. I have
found peace within myself. I have found my soul.

And I like who she is.

(you can read other 'rants' at http://www.veganforlife.org)