Photo: Toronto Star
Anita Krajnc may go to jail for 10 years because she gave water to terrified dehydrated pigs on their way to the slaughterhouse. Kudos to you Anita for being so damn brave and compassionate. In her own words:
Peering in, I was met face to face with sad and terrified pigs, each one eerily similar to the dog standing by my side. The sight was haunting. I knew I had to act.
People may laugh at me for caring about pigs, but the more I think about it, the more I ask myself what makes them different from our beloved dogs? The more I see and hear about the horrors that humans inflict in the name of "because it tastes good," the more I know for sure that I will never go back to eating meat. To me, it just doesn't make sense ... aside from moral/ethical reasons, it can make you fat and sick and it harms the planet. AND less people go hungry if we grew plants for food instead of breeding animals and killing them.
But I'm sick of having to respond to "Oh! I could never do that! I could never give up [insert animal product here]."
So now when people ask how I manage to look younger/take care of my skin/have so much energy, I just smile.
Although ... maybe it's because I'm delving deeper into my thirties - I feel like I am "coming into my own" and finally getting to know what affects me deeply and what I won't back down from. The big 3-0 was a thrill once I hit it, because I noticed I started to not care so much about what others thought. I used to have the rep of being "too nice" but now I know there are things I will not succumb to just to be nice. One is eating meat and another one is putting up with the irritating combination of ignorance and rudeness. The latter I put up with way too much when I was younger - including racist white "friends." Ugh. I am also much more ferociously protective of my family and culture. Maybe because my parents are getting older and also I realize how much they actually sacrificed for my sister and I, especially now that I am working. I cannot imagine what it was like for my parents, leaving everything behind for a foreign country, just so their kids could get better chances. If my parents get insulted, then best believe I'm doubly insulted.
So yeah, I'm changing.
It can be challenging. I'm with someone who I met when I was in my twenties and I don't know where this will take us. I ate meat in my twenties. I went through a long dancer phase during which I went vegetarian for a couple of years. Now it's veganism and yoga (which I have a feeling are two things that voraciously feed off each other). I feel I've definitely morphed a lot more than he has. So far he's been pretty understanding. But if conflict comes about, who's being unfair? The one who changed or the one who stayed the same?
The majority of my family and friends eat meat and it can be a tricky to deal with. I used to be fairly nonchalant about it (heard this one a lot: "oh, you're such a cool non-preachy vegan!") but now when I see pieces of carcass my stomach does turn. How to resolve this, I'm still unsure. Run away to some magical predominantly vegan city where I am finally not a lonely unicorn? I'm not gonna lie, I do daydream about it once in a while. I mean c'mon I'm in the land of Alberta beef! Le sigh.
Okay time to walk the little munchkin before it gets too late (and sketchy).
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