Originally posted by mahayana
Would anyone like to share why they became a vegetarian?

I've loved many animals for their character and intelligence. They express affection, have moods, and feel pain just as humans do. This is true of all animals, including the ones that we don't see everyday or have as pets. It is true of those that live in utter misery on factory farms, or those tortured in labs. Society makes these lives invisible so people don't have to think or take responsibility for their actions. But I do not wish to ignore these lives. I believe that each of their lives is as valuable as any human life.

I am vegan because my pain is no greater than their pain. I suffer the same as a dairy cow, the same as a lab rat. I am vegan because I can see the unnecessary suffering in a shampoo bottle and the loneliness in zoos. I am vegan for every animal whose pain was silenced or brushed aside. I am vegan because I feel that caring about something is more important than convenience, because my pain is no greater than theirs, and I can see this.

I think that people are intricately connected to all other beings and that any perceived separation or superiority is our own creation. I believe in animal rights because I've never been able to look into an animal's eyes and see a soul worthy of death and suffering. I wonder what this world would look like if we started looking at every being's soul like that.