STOP it. Please. Stop believing that humans have the right to demand the practice of exploiting other members of the animal kingdom, who are conscious and feeling. They share with us the capacity to suffer, sentience, a brain, pain receptors, a nervous system, faces with eyes, a desire to live. We should be able to empathize. And vegans have done just that. Vegans, through their own reasoning and empathy for others - are the pioneers who have proved that humans can live without intentionally being cruel and violent to perceptually-aware beings. This is a crime. Legal systems have always taken time to catch up with the progressive collective consciousness of that time period. At one time it was legal to own another human being as a slave - until it wasn't anymore. Owning nonhumans as slaves is legal now - until the day it won't be any more. There will be a time when it is not socially acceptable to harm animals, as it is now.
The human race can advance to a more civilized, and less violent species. Adopting vegan living out of basic respect for fellow feeling animals is the best hope we have for a saner, healthier, more peaceful, more loving, and more sustainable planet - the one we all share. Our choices affect each other. Take that step up to being a part of the solution for what plagues planet Earth: oppression, slavery, violence, environmental degradation, global warming, hunger, etc.
If humanity adopted a plant-powered diet, at least - we could heal our planet. But I'm asking you - on behalf of my animal cousins - to be fair and give other animals what they are owed, by virtue of their sentience - their right to autonomy; freedom to live without humans using them as a resource. They are not things. They are "someones" that humans treat as "somethings" - and I feel compelled to speak the Vegan Truth. This behavior towards animals is wrong. Get with the times. Say you're sorry by becoming vegan. After an initial learning period, it becomes second nature and easier than you think.
Vegans are not extreme, fringe, weird or bad. They are not self-righteous; they are righteous towards other animal life. Vegans are merely showing basic respect. And there is "a right" and "a wrong". It's right not to cause needless suffering. It's right to care - to care enough to change your life, your perception - for a newer and better one than the one society handed to you. Step up into a whole new worldview. Veganism is a social justice movement open to anyone of any gender, age, sexual orientation, color of skin, atheist or theist, rich or poor, hippy or straight, liberal, conservative, or anarchist, lawyer, PhD, doctor or skateboarder, shop owner, unemployed, whoever! And vegans do come in every walk of life. We want to make history and change the world for the better, and there is nothing needed more than for you to join the ever-expanding vegan community.
To learn more about the benefits of vegan living, how to be a vegan, how eating a plant-based diet is the best for human and planetary health, vegan nutrition, please visit Veganism; A Truth Whose Time has Come...my blog, written by an unwavering vegan of 35 years. In this post you will find living proof that humans CAN live vegan, long-term. Other vegan educational sites to start with: Gentle World, Vegan Starter Kit. Finally, in this post, I have briefly responded to 60 comments and questions from nonvegans.
