“I don’t eat anything with a a mother.”
This was my first introduction to the concept of vegetarianism, to the best of my memory. I was about six or seven years old. The speaker was my own mother, and the subject of the sentence she was repeating was the mother of another child on my soccer team. It made a huge impact on me and I believe was one of the first seeds of animal rights planted within my young psyche.
A mother crocodile can gently crack an egg with her teeth without hurting her young inside. Even the “meanest” of animals love their children. I don’t want anyone eating my babies - just saying.
10 Amazing Facts About Moms in Nature
I watched my puppy, with a look of pure curiosity in her eyes, exploring something new yesterday. She seemed no different than a new human. That moment solidified every happiness I’ve ever had about being vegan and made me feel very grateful for not having participated in anything that brings any kind of harm to animals (to the very best of my knowledge) for the last almost 9 years of my life. I am also filled with pride toward my 11-year-old self for deciding eating animals was weird and never going back. Veganism has been nothing but a gift to me - the gift of voicing one’s opinion(s) through the mere act of NOT participating in certain things is quite a powerful gift.
