so i've finally acted on my resolve to turn vegetarian! have been at it for close to 2 weeks now, and apart from the occasional discouragement from some of my colleagues (due to inconvenience) and my well-meaning parents (who are concerned about my nutrition), i think it has gone pretty well!
i don't miss eating meat at all. well, i was never one who enjoyed eating meat per se, but most of the time, the tastiness of the sauce/fried flour tempted me into shutting out thoughts of the animal that became meat on my plate. thoughts of how it was alive and kicking in one moment, but devoid of life in the next, because of me.
each person i told of my intentions to turn vegetarian would inevitably ask me 'why'. to be honest, i don't really like discussing this topic because i don't want to appear all noble and compassionate, because i really am not. i also don't wish to make the person hearing my explanation feel as though he or she was heartless for eating meat. there are so many other ways in which my actions are detrimental to animals, and i am far away from ever reaching a state in which my existence does not harm any animal at all. in fact, it may be impossible to ever reach that destination.
my daily necessity of hygiene is already a source of dispute. the toothpaste i use, the shampoo & shower foam i lavishly cleanse myself with, the cosmetics i use for work, which of these have been 100% free from animal testing? i used to see the term 'dermatologically tested' on my facial foams and viewed that as an assurance, but now i know it means 'dermatologically tested (on animals)'.
one step at a time, i tell myself. so my next resolve is to understand more about animal testing, and try to avoid using products of brands which perform it. for those of you who are interested, do visit the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) website for a start. They list the various brands which test and don't test on animals. They also talk about other animal rights, and why animals are not ours to eat, to wear, to experiment on, to use for entertainment, or worst of all, to abuse.
(hyperlinks in blue)
http://www.peta.org/
why animals are not ours to eat
why animals are not ours to wear
why animals are not ours to experiment on
why animals are not ours to use for entertainment
why animals are not ours to abuse
cruelty of animal testing
"To test cosmetics, household cleaners, and other consumer products, hundreds of thousands of animals are poisoned, blinded, and killed every year by cruel corporations. Mice and rats are forced to inhale toxic fumes, dogs are force-fed pesticides, and rabbits have corrosive chemicals rubbed onto their skin and eyes."
brands which test on animals
prominent examples are l'oreal, p&g, colgate-palmolive, johnson & johnson, unilever (including countless sub-brands like dove which i have been using for the longest time!!! :()
brands which do not test on animals
ironically, the brands in this list are the ones which are more obscure......sigh
back to why i said it might be impossible to fully live an animal cruelty-free life..another pervasive instance which i feel in no control of this time is the use of animal testing in drugs. while it is so much easier to get rid of animal-harming behaviors which only serve to enhance our lives (improve our diets, maintain our hygiene, beautify ourselves through cosmetics and animal-based fashion wear/bags etc.), it is another issue altogether to put human health at stake. i am not in a position to comment much about this because i have not done enough research on this topic, on whether healing drugs can be produced without the need for animal testing. while i still resent the fact that humans value their health more than the life of an animal, will i still feel the same if it was my loved one who was ill and needed the drug badly?
just 3 days ago, as i was walking towards the bus stop to get to work, i saw a mynah standing on the road. (i always feel worried for these birds who stand along the road!! i've seen more than enough dead birds on the roads to know that they don't always manage to fly away in time) it seemed to be watching over this lump of mass beside it..much as i prayed it wasn't so, it was a dead mynah who probably just got run over by a car. i'm not sure how the 2 mynahs were related, but i can imagine it must have been feeling as much sorrow as a human would feel seeing our loved one in such a lifeless, mangled state. and yet the mynah could do nothing about it. until today, the dead mynah's body was still there, but this time even more unrecognizable, as more and more cars started to tear its body apart. my heart ached for it; what indignity it must have to suffer even in death.
and this thought strengthened my resolve even more to turn vegetarian. who am i to weep over a poor bird who got ran over by a car, if i continued to indirectly kill other birds by savouring tasty BBQ wings one after another?
but don't ask me to explain all the good reasons why i am doing so, because i can't give a satisfactory, rational answer myself. i am just following my emotions, and am probably trying to selfishly avoid the after-feeling of guilt.
it is a very personal belief and i don't intend to impose my vegetarian thoughts on those around me as well, but choosing animal-friendly consumer products is one step i encourage all of you to explore together with me! :)
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