Why Vegan?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia;

“Veganism is a diet and lifestyle that seeks to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.  Vegans endeavor not to use or consume animal products of any kind.  The most common reasons for becoming a vegan are ethical commitment or moral conviction concerning animal rights, the environment, human health, and spiritual or religious concerns.  Of particular concern to many vegans are the practices involved in factory farming and animal testing, and the intensive use of land and other resources for animal farming.”

I have been Vegan since February, 2006 and before that I was Vegetarian for 4 years.  Since that February I have chosen to not eat or buy any products that come from Animals.  This means I choose to not eat eggs, milk, chickens, cows, pigs, ice cream, cheese, etc. and I choose to not buy things like leather or wool.

If there were a single word to simply describe why I have chosen to become Vegan it would be compassion.  For years before becoming Vegan I had been trying to live as compassionatly as possible and this is how I came to being Vegetarian.  If one wants to live a compasionate life for all beings on earth of course that person would choose to not kill or harm said beings.  As I learned more about Factory Farming and how Animals are mistreated, abused, and tortured, simply for Humans to use there milk, eggs, skin, etc. I could not stand to just be Vegetarian any more so I made the decision to go Vegan and eliminate all Animal products from my life, ideally cutting out the suffering that my consumption of animal products had caused previously.

Choosing Veganism has been wonderful, it has opened my eyes to a level of compassion and joy that I had never experienced before, in addition to amazing, creative, and delicious food options that I had never tried before.