Sometimes, it's not easy to be a vegan

 
I got into an argument with my best friend last night.  He is someone who eats meat.  He is also someone who is religious to the point of not wanting to take the Lord's name in vain.  He also doesn't want to hear me doing it.  I believe it's because he has a young daughter and close family members that are devout Christians.  Lately, I'd gotten a little tired of him scolding me for using language he doesn't appreciate hearing.  I couldn't help thinking it's hypocritical for him to get all hot and bothered by people saying words.  Words don't do physical damage.  "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me" does sound childish, but there's a lot of truth to it.
We were in a friend's car, on the way home, when he scolded me for something I said.  I became angry.  I pointed out to him that words are just sounds that fly harmlessly through the air.  However, when he spends money on meat in a store or a restaurant, he is supporting cruelty to animals.  I yelled.  With the exception of disabled people, those who are afflicted with a serious disease, kids, and elders, people who eat meat are either ignorant or selfish.  They're either ignorant of the suffering they're supporting when they buy meat, or, they know about it, and they don't care, which would make them selfish.
He pretty much said he doesn't want to hang out with me anymore, to which I said something like "Fine!"  Then there was no more conversation for the duration of the trip.  It was quite an uncomfortable silence among 4 people in a car.  Then we were dropped off at his house.  The initial plan had been for me to sleep over, and he'd drive me home the next day.
But he asked me, "Are you ready?"  I knew he meant ready for the trip home.
I responded "sure."  So he drove me home in complete silence.  It was only broken when we arrived at my apartment complex when I said "thanks" to him before getting out of his car.
I tend to not confront friends and family about eating meat, but this time, I couldn't help myself.  I had thought he was being hypocritical by being so focused on words and not actions: like eating meat and supporting murder and suffering in the animal world.  It finally came out.  Our friendship has survived much.  I hope it will survive this.       

A letter written by a pig to humans.

This is how we want to live.

This is how many of us are forced to live, because people eat our dead bodies..

Please, please, please stop confining us cruelly and killing us.  Life is hard enough in this world.  Why are you making it a nightmare for most of us?  There are people out there who say we're at least as smart as dogs.  So why do you kill and eat us and not them (for the most part)?  Just like you, we want to be happy.  We want to be free.  We want to be with our young uns.
I live in a tiny stall.  It is just barely big enough to contain my body.   It is metal, and the floor is hard.  I have no soft bed to sleep in.  I don't even have enough room to turn around.  I can't walk anywhere.  This is my life 24 hours a day/7 days a week.  How would you like to live like that?  The first time they put me into this stall, I couldn't believe it!  How could they expect me to live like this?  When they went away, and I realized I would be stuck here, I panicked.  I tried to get out of here.  All I could do was throw my body against the walls: trying to free myself.  I did it for hours.  I exhausted myself completely.  I realized that, no matter what I did, I would not be able to free myself.  That's when I gave up, lied down, and began to cry.  This is my life.  I'm forced to stay in this stall, and I never get to leave it.  From what I've heard, I'll only get to leave this stall when it's time for me to be murdered, so people can eat bacon, ham, and pork chops.
I've heard about pigs that are so lucky.  They are people's pets.  People love them and treat them like many people treat dogs and cats.  I've heard about pigs that push soccer balls around, then put them back into their toy boxes when they're done.
Please stop eating meat.  You don't need to.  It's so much healthier to eat fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, beans, and whole grains.  It's much less cruel to do so as well.  

A Letter from a Dog to Humans

Please be nice to me and don't hurt me.

Please be nice to us.  Please don't ever hurt us.  Sometimes my dad comes home from wherever he goes, and he's very mean to me: even if I did nothing wrong that day.  He yells at me; sometimes he hits or kicks me, and I don't know why.  It seems like he's mad about what happened while he was "out there."  I love him so much, and I still do, no matter what he does to me.  But I love him unconditionally, no matter what, and I wish he'd love me that way too.  I never get mad at him: not even when he gives me a bath or takes me to the vet.
We trust you completely; it's been that way for hundreds of years now.  We put our lives in your hands.  We give you all we have to give: our entire bodies.  We can't give anymore.  Don't you see how wrong it is to betray our trust?  But people have made us fight each other.  People have hurt, tortured, and killed us in lab experiments.
If you're a breeder, please stop bringing more dogs into the world and spend your time doing something better.  So many of us are living in cages in shelters.  When you bring a dog into the world, and someone buys him or her, then there is a dog living in a cage in a shelter that could have been adopted if you hadn't sold that dog.  So many dogs need good homes; please don't make matters worse.
Please don't give up on your dog.  My friend, the bald vegan, was living with his ex-girlfriend years ago.  His ex-girlfriend wanted to get a dog.  The bald vegan asked her to not get a dog, becasue he was too lazy to walk a dog every day at the time, and he didn't yet know how great dogs are.  His ex-girlfriend got a dog anyway.  Just as he suspected, he was expected to walk him every day.  But the bald vegan has strong feelings about animals.  Even though he had not agreed to get a dog, he never once suggested that she get rid of him.  He believes that when you make a commitment to a pet, it should be for life: either the life of the pet or the person.  Even though the little guy bit him several times, he fell completely in love with him, and would not have wanted him to leave his home at all.  Getting a dog, then having a baby, then getting rid of your dog cause you're worried about the baby is a crappy thing to do.          

Backwards World

If you eat meat, I hope you choke on it.

I believe human society is backwards in 2 major ways.  I think it is backwards to be a meat eater.  I am hoping, that in the not-too-distant future, the trend will be reversed.  I hope it will be commonplace to be a vegetarian or vegan, and meat eaters will be the minority.  Of course, I'd rather meat eaters not exist at all.  HUMANS DO NOT NEED TO EAT MEAT TO SURVIVE.  If you think you wouldn't get enough protein without meat, think again.  Mac Danzig was very competitive as a vegan MMA fighter in the UFC.  It is healthier to eat fresh veggies, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.  That is part of what is so frustrating for us animal-loving vegans and vegetarians; most people would rather contribute to the suffering of animals by eating meat, which frequently destroys the health of the meat eater.  Not only are you being cruel to animals, you're being cruel to yourself.  It's backwards.  It makes no sense.
Another way in which this world is backwards is amazing to me.  There is so much unhappiness in this world.  So many people are depressed, miserable, living lives and working jobs that they can't stand.  Tons of people commit suicide every year.  Don't believe me?  Look it up.  The media doesn't report it because the CDC has asked them not to, because it leads to copycat suicides.  Yet, most people become biological parents.  It blows my mind.  I've written it here before.  I think virtually everyone who brings someone into this cruel world does so for selfish reasons.  If someone wants to be a parent, why not adopt?  There are always kids who need homes.  Why bring another person into the world to suffer?  Life sucks.  I wish I had never been born.  I've never brought anyone into this world, never gotten a woman pregnant, but it's been done to me.  I am the result of a teenage pregnancy.  I am paying for the mistake my idiot parents made every day of my life.  Parents are supposed to be obeyed and respected.  That's a bunch of crap.  There's nothing wrong with hating biological parents.  They brought you into a world filled with pain, brutality, and death.  People who refuse to bring another person into the world, and adopt instead, are heroes.
Say or think what you want, but I don't eat meat, and I'm not a parent, so at least I'm not a hypocrite.