Before becoming a vegan animal rights activist I had been a progressive for many years. I cared about human rights, the environment, and many other causes, but animals were always outside my social justice framework.
I started volunteering at the local shelter with rabbits after adopting, and seeing the ways they were discarded, rescued, rehabilitated, and adopted into living homes started to open my eyes.
The shelter took in a young pig, and interacting with him opened my eyes fully to the inconsistency I was engaged in. I was working to rescue animals while at the same time using animal products, even though I knew I could easily live a good life without them. Looking into his blue eyes and talking to him in oinks, I couldn't hold back my joyous laughter when he oinked right back at me. He was a beautiful boy. I could no longer deny that this pig was, in every way that is relevant, a person.
I swore off meat that day and never looked back. I soon started reading about animal rights and phased out eggs, dairy and other animal products. It took me about a year to completely transition.
I now look back on becoming vegan as one of the best life choices I've made. It wasn't as hard as I feared it would be, and it's only ever been a minor inconvenience. I realize that my experience comes from a certain level of privilege, living in the Global North, but being vegan is pretty easy if you're not flat broke and live in the United States.
Years after becoming vegan and learning how important plant-based living is for my health and for reversing climate change further solidified the conviction that helping the world to stop exploiting animals is my life's mission, and I hope eventually we can get everyone else on board too.
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