Coming Out

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

photo credits: Thomas Hawk

Life is full of transitions. From childhood to pre-teen to teenager to young adult to old geezer. During that time, we find that we go through a hell lot of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual upheaval. (Well, for me at least)

There are times when we find a path a little less taken to suit our current state of being and we may find that some people get skeptical about where your headed, appear unsupportive or may even snipe you down.

photo credits: kool_skatkat

Some are skeptical because they are worried for you, while for others, your change poses a threat to their current lifestyle or ideologies. Then there is another group of people, who are inwardly supportive of your transition but are afraid of going against the mainstream.

While some people will immediately feel judged and take offense even if you do nothing more than ask for a vegan meal in their company, there’s also another side to this, which is that your veganism may get the more thoughtful people in your life asking hard questions of themselves. For these reasons, we cannot run from the term “vegan.” It helps people see what we’re doing, and what it means. It provides “teachable moments” in everyday life where people may come and ask you questions.- VeganFreak

I was one of the latter. Coming out as a vegan was difficult for me primarily because I feel judged about making people feel judged themselves. Being an instigator for questioning on personal belief systems, values and choice is extremely discomforting for me. It takes a lot of nerve and confidence on my part- something I was really lacking in my youth. (Not that I am that old now)

When I was thirteen/ fourteen years old, two of my friends started to become vegetarians. I was a still a meat-eater and I did not understand their motivations for doing so. Eating meat was like ingrained into me as natural. They said they were trying it out just for fun. I was not even a sheer bit encouraging then, in fact I was like, “why are you putting yourself through this when you know that you like eating meat?” That was because I had no clue about animal happiness/suffering then, their living conditions or manner they were killed.

Now that I am more informed, through animal activists such as Peta and Animal Voices, I totally want to eat my words I said a decade ago. The immense cruelty in mass animal farming system is so shocking painful to watch. Live footage videos of their living conditions, gruesome killing methods and physical abuse from farm and lab employees are all visible at the Peta website. Battery farming and animal-testing practices are no different from Nazi camps, except that they are for animals.

photo credits: farlene

Another argument is that the amount of grains that feed livestock could be transferred to hungry human mouths all over the world and it would be the end of human starvation. This view, I feel, is far too simplistic. It’s impossible to demand that everyone change their eating habits. Moreover, not everyone feels the same way about animals: as a separate species we know very little about.

Spreading the message of inhumanity and unkindness towards any sentient being, be it humans or animals, is crucial to our moral and ethical existence as human beings. We are, afterall, beings of rationality and compassion.

Animals become our friends, we become their friends, when they look back at us and we are confronted by the mystery of the Other which is the root of our being.

Non-humans aren’t as clever as we are in humans terms; but neither are we as clever as they are in their terms. As John Paul II puts it, we can “communicate through the silent language of a profound sharing of affection. Pythagoras heard his friend (an animal), and knew him by his voice.- Clark, “I knew him by his voice, Can Animals Be Our Friends?”, Philosophy Now Iss. 67, Pg 16)

I have come to learn through my mistakes of timidity and ignorance of my relationship towards non-human creatures primarily through conscious consumption and diet. It was a rocky road but I am glad to have learnt more about myself through this experience. What is your position towards animal farming and testing? Please share!

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