Blame It On My Wild Heart

Before reading this post, please realize a couple of things up front. First off, I'm not trying to preach or force my ideology on anyone. Secondly, I don't judge people negatively for what they choose to include in their diets. Lastly, this post is driven 100% from the heart. My aim is to only help raise awareness and inform the very small readership I may have of a topic that's been on my mind the past few weeks. All I'd like to ask is that if you do start to read this, PLEASE do so in full and don't just disregard it at the earliest inclination that you know what it's all about. You can skim through every other post on here, but I hope you'll just consider this one in full and with a bit of a realization that I wouldn't write about it if I didn't think it was important.

Three weeks ago I decided to step up my actions regarding my dietary intake of dairy and animal-related products. I've been a vegetarian for nearly 14 years now, and in light of the recent Conklin Farms case (brought to my attention by Brandie), I've decided to step it up a notch and try my hand at a predominantly vegan diet.

I could sit here and try and explain the benefits of veganism, but I truly feel that most people already have a vague idea of the rationale behind these sorts of decisions. People either genuinely feel no sympathy for animals, feel slight sympathy but choose not to investigate the issue out of the potential discomfort it would cause them, or feel sympathy and choose to make a change in their own lives to alleviate the guilt that comes with knowing they're part of the cycle. I fall into this last category.

Again, I'm not trying to preach. It's a personal decision, 100%. Like politics, abortion, religion, etc. There's no way I could tell anyone they're right or wrong for how they choose to live their lives based on this topic, nor do I have a desire to. I am simply trying to just open up some eyes to an issue that does exist.

The below video has already made its rounds on the internet. If you've seen it, there's no need to watch it again. If you haven't seen it, I really believe it will be of some benefit to you if you do watch it. It will either disgust you or enrage you, both are reactions that will eventually lead to an actual consideration of the subject matter and your role in it. Keep in mind, I really DID NOT want to watch this, but I am GLAD I did for it impassioned me to make a change. Hopefully you'll feel the same.

If you just made it beyond 10 seconds of the video, I commend you. I could hardly stomach more than that myself. The reality is that this is an extreme example of the type of abuse that occurs at dairy farms. Are all dairy farms like this? I would certainly hope not. However, when your job is to tend to cows who are bread for the sole purpose of milking, and you are responsible for tending after them day in and day out, it's possible to see how a perverse resentment could arise. I'm by no means justifying any of the actions in this. I'm simply stating that even the most non-stressful jobs, which involve repetitive mundane tasks, can be frustrating. The people who committed the acts in the video are disgusting, and let their frustrations out in an unacceptable and horrific way - on poor, innocent, defenseless animals who have no ability to alleviate the situation. The truth is that many of these sorts of dairy farms with many of these types of employees exist - low-paid, low-conscience, low-intellect folks who live in rural areas and are so bored that they begin to entertain such obviously-wrong ideas.

These sorts of dairy farms can change. If enough people become aware and take measures to apply change to their own diets, it will effect the way they run their businesses. I'm not saying everyone should become vegan or vegetarian, but there are ALWAYS alternatives. Pay attention to what you eat and where it came from. It doesn't take much effort to ask your grocer or the restaurant you're at. There are humane farms out there that provide dairy and eggs from animals that are allowed to live and roam naturally, and are not bread for mass-production.

Having done more research today on the production of eggs, I was genuinely surprised by how misleading the egg-farming industry is in their packaging. "Cage-free" or "Free-range" or "Organic" are completely misleading labels. All of the above labels still mean these farmers can inhumanely clip chicken beaks and condense large numbers of chickens in small areas. Furthermore, did you know that a general practice for most egg-suppliers is to immediately kill any male hatched baby chicks, since they serve no purpose in egg-production? Do you know how they kill these baby chicks? They grind them in most cases, but also use gas and strangulation as alternatives. It's completely depressing to consider this. Fortunately, the Humane Society has put-together a list breaking down what the descriptions on egg-packages really mean. You can read it here.

To save you some time, if you're going to buy eggs, look for packages that contain the "Animal Welfare Approved" label on them. They're much harder to find in your local stores (and likely more expensive), but if you've got the heart - you'll seek them out.

For aspiring vegans/vegetarians seeking out options on where to dine-out, the following sites are terrific at reviewing just those sorts of places:

Quarry Girl
VegGuide
Happy Cow
Vegan Master List

As always, shopping at more natural-food based grocers is preferable to larger chains too.

Anyways, thanks for reading if you've made it this far. It's extremely rare that I will share my thoughts and feelings on a topic based on personal-choice, like this, but hopefully it has benefit some of you. I anticipate a few haters will be drawn to comment, in which case, you may want to save yourself some time. You won't find me arguing this issue - I'm simply putting it out there for consideration. It's up to you how you'd like to process it. I know there are hundreds of important issues out there, all of which could use our attention. I just felt compelled to share one that matters to me.