Cows have feelings too
Growing up in the heartland of America gave me a close and personal experience of the agriculture industry, especially the mass production of animals like cows, pigs, and chickens. For many years I was told that it was necessary for humans to consume animals in order to live, we needed the protein and other nutrients consumed by these animals, and it was all part of the natural process. I spent many hours on farms, ranches, and feedlots watching these animals, and the one thing that really caught my attention was how intelligent and loving to each other these animals are and how one species, like a pig, would accept, live with, and sometimes care for an animal of another species. It was difficult indeed, especially if you generally like animals and even made a few of them pet friends. In order to facilitate my diet I simply just put it out of my mind, every time the thought or TRUTH popped up, I justified by thinking it was the natural order of things. Also, I knew many of my friends and their families relied on this industry for money, making it even more difficult to change one’s perspective or opinion on the subject. Simply put, I lied to myself and anyone else opposed to the industry. Now many years later and no longer living in the midwest I have found it much easier to take an altruistic view on the subject. Also, I’m not as concerned about stepping on toe’s; not as if I am the whistle-blower on the subject, Hollywood has done much of that with movies like Fast food nation. Anyway, it could not be avoided as I went introspectively with yoga and meditation, it was impossible for me to continue to ignore my experiences on the farms. The flood gates opened and all the dirty little secrets resurfaced. I was reminded of the neglect, abuse, and torture of these animals, as well as the nasty feeds and injections that are used. And don’t even get me started about the way workers of the feedlots, slaughterhouses, and packing plants, are treated and grossly underpaid in comparison to the workers with the same jobs forty to fifty years ago. I could also write a book about examples of the bad karma experienced by many people I knew that were associated with this industry as well. One thing for certain, it did not take much to convince me to try alternatives with my diet.
Let us set aside any moral questions at this moment and ask one question: Is it necessary to kill animals in order for humans to survive? Well, that’s easy to answer. NO! Not only are there many vegans and vegetarians living as proof, but there are athletes that train and compete at a high levels without any animal proteins or animal bi-products (as seen in the attached video) and most likely have an advantage over those that do consume animal flesh. For myself, it was a question of dead energy (cooked animal flesh) vs live energy (raw or uncooked foods) and raw meats just does not sound all that appetizing to me. And of course my moral obligation as a cultivator of creation is equally important as well! I was going to post some videos of my current level of athletic training to give a visual account of my progress since going vegan but the vegan fitness stars in the attached video beat me too it 😦 Actually, I had some slight hang-ups from yoga and was not quite as far along as these guys, and more importantly I wanted to get family and friends to enjoy the benefits of the vegan diet: more mental & physical energy, efficient digestion, low nonessential fats, and good karma 🙂 Step it up, Go Vegan!
shamanistical 