This article was shared by Neha Bharadwaj
So, it’s the “new year week” and resolutions are on the roll. It’s the hot topic between my friends. “So what’s your resolution this year??”
This year my resolution is to turn vegan. So what is “vegan”? well, it is basically following a way of life abstaining from animal products like meat, skin , dairy products etc.
What made me choose this?
Well it all began when I was walking down my lane on a pleasant Saturday morning. Just then I saw men carrying dozen of chickens by their leg into the poultry shop. They cackled in helplessness, with fear and no hope in their eyes. That sight made me feel a sharp kick in my stomach. I walked on the to see some more men carrying mutton flesh splattered with blood. That sight made me feel woozy all over. But, also made me think…”What did that animal do to end on my plate??”
After months of thought, research and trying, I chose 2011 as an year to begin my vegan chapter. My friends found it foolish , my family doubted my will power. But I knew it was not impossible. If maximum PETA members can be vegan, why cant I??
In a report on “how to turn vegan” the first step was to look the animal in the eye, and trust me this may sound absurd but one look at that animal and you may never want to eat it.
“Animals are friends and I do not eat friends.” What about you??
- Neha Bharadwaj
The author of the article is a passionate artist and her paintings can be viewed at A Splash Of Colours
The author of the article is a passionate artist and her paintings can be viewed at A Splash Of Colours
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14 comments:
You describe the pain animals go through when they're slaughtered. You talked about looking an animal you never want to eat, into the eye. Point.
But then, aren't plants living creatures too? Just because they can't cry, or show you the pain that they go through when they're cut and chopped, does not mean you eat them right (going by your way of logic)? Just because they don't have an eye for you to look into to see their pain and anguish, does not mean that you slaughter them, does it?
I have nothing against being vegetarian. Its just that if you anyway eat plants who are living beings, might as well consume animals too, right?
You can't stop eating meat in the name of murder when you, in the first place, murder the plants for your your food, right?
@anonymous.... A great point forward by you..
i hope the author of the above article(neha bharadwaj) has a reply to ypur comment...
well that was an amazing thought but truthfully i feel animals have more emotions than plants..they bleed when we kill them.. not plants.
and humans were more or less born vegetarian..
well i was an enthusiastic non vegetarian UNTIL i saw that sight..so i feel being vegan is a good option.
I think i kinda wavered from the point..but its what i feel
:)
what makes you say plants don’t have emotions? they do! saying that ‘scientific researches have proved that plants too have the capacity to respond to stimulus as effective as emotion of some kind’ may suffice, but then what I want to say is that you never notice they’re emotions because they don’t respond to you or you really can’t see them respond (even if they do).
when you call out to a dog, he comes up to you, wagging his tail, his face bright and happy. that tells us that animals (in this case, a dog) have emotions. now, you call out to a plant. does it move? respond? budge? no. and that makes you say that plants don’t have emotions? maybe it has emotions that cannot be understood by the human psyche? just because the plant does not respond in a way that can be interpreted by the human mind, does not mean that they don’t have emotions.
and back to the sight. you saw that animal being slaughtered. it cried, wailed and whimpered in pain. that makes your heart swell, right? but no plant cries when you unearth it and rip off its life. i’m pretty sure that if the plant were capable enough to ‘cry’ and ‘wail’ in pain and anguish, in a way that can be interpreted by the human mind, you’d not be eating anything right now - not even plants, since that would swell up your heart too. that you see, is my point(which i think i might have repeated a lot of times and probably bored you off). so what i say is, if you’re inhuman enough to eat plants, then might as well eat animals too na. that, you see, is the second point.
:)
Jenil.
Hey Jenil!!!
You definitely have a great point and i salute you over your thoughts...
and neha yes you too have a point and i know you can put your thoughts in a much better way..
And jenil, as the owner of this blog,i would sincerely wish to invite you to be our guest author... i love the way you express yourself and i would be glad if you can contribute to teens words through an article or two...
Please get in touch with me on ateenswords@gmail.com
ok..im stumped!! ur too good!!
but all i can say is..we have to eat something to survive right?? and wat i basically feel is that the meat industry is incessantly killing these animals. they over feed these animals and slaughter them for the meat we eat. when i thought about turning vagan i generally just wanted to avoid all the cruelty..thats all
i accept plants have emotions..but i guess god didn't give them the power of speech so that at least we humans have something to eat without guilt in our conscious!
im not advocating for anyone to be vegan..but just expressing my thoughts.
i read up quite a few articles and notes on animal cruelty and i think you should too!
any more ideas anyone!!?? im totally game to reply!
:)
@Akshat Singhal : Dude, I barely write anything, and anyway I'm too lazy to! One of my friends suggested this blog to me, and I read this article, which only let the ball rolling in my head. Thus I had no option but to comment. Thanks for the offer anyway! Now that you've encouraged me, I may consider it anyway. :D
@Neha G. : That is a matter of conscience, as you said. But throughout the article you were talking about the cruelty done to the animal whereas you ignored the cruelty done to plants. It is one this fact that I based all my arguments.
Conscience, that is something that differs from person to person.
Human Incapacity has blinded man from being able to grasp the emotions of the Plant World. And it is this blindness, which masked by 'conscience', prevents the slaughter of animals not plants. Unfair, but inevitable.
Lets just say it is a sad truth about life. In any which way, either animals but and always plants, will die as food to humans.
:)
Jenil.
ok..are u like king of the plant kingdom!!!???
you have got a new point every time! Sincerely i feel animals possess more emotions. and even if you think plants have more emotions no human can live on only meat. seriously.
and another point that struck me is plants are more in number than animals which makes eating them easier because you have more growing quite quick..kinda weird..but it just popped in!!
now im eagerly waiting for your argument!
:)
Me, the king of the plant world! well, if defending plants makes me a king of the plant world, then you are evidently ruling the animal world! :D
Anyway, getting back to the point.Animals posses more emotions. Well, you'd have to go back to my first two arguments - plants have emotions, you just can't see them. If your blindness to plant emotion and pain makes you feel happy about not eating animals, so be it. That just says that a Vegan is a person who is too disgusted to see animals die, so he/she prefers to have murdered plant on their platter ("What did that animal do to end on my plate?") - only because plant emotions are non-interpretable to them.
Two, yes we cannot live on only meat. I never said don't eat plants. All through, I said that If you have to kill plants, might as well kill animals too, for food.
Three, plants being more in number does not mean that you gobble them all up. Yes, you might say that if you stop eating plants, they'll overgrow and invade the whole planet. But then don't all things that grow fast, die fast too? So if a million plants are born this very moment, a million are dying too, as you read this comment of mine. Equilibrium is maintained. And so what is plants are more? Abundance is no reason for murder. And if overabundance does take place, there will be an equal amount of plant deaths (all thanks to Mother Nature) to balance it out.
I have been saying it all along - if we humans are shameless enough to kill plants and feel good about being 'vegan', then might as well be shameless enough to kill animals too.
:)
Jenil.
Ok..tell me..is it better to feel the full guilt in your conscious by killing animals and plants or just feel half the guilt (according to your theory) by just consuming plants??? I think half is better.
And if u feel killing plants and animals is the same as they both possess emotions then you would have to change the minds of 50% of the practicing vegetarians in India as well as maybe 40% of the world population who maybe vegan or vegetarians.
Im enjoying my vegan way of life. Feeling less guilty while walking down my lane these days and also proud to follow a healthier lifestyle. Im less prone to high cholesterol,obesity,cancer and other such diseases that haunt us today.
Its my personal choice to not have "dead meat" in my stomach.
:)
yes, you feel less guilty. false conscience. the day the plant starts speaking and crying in pain, vegans will die of hunger, since they'll realize the pain plants go through.
plant consumption has as much chances of causing deadly diseases as animal flesh.
and oh, the plant you eat is dead meat too, its just that it does not bleed enough red blood to scare you or melt your heart.
:D
Jenil.
my dear!! plant is not dead meat!! dead yes not meat..get ur facts right!!
accept it..ur out of points to support u!!
:P
but one thing i noe for sure..we will never hear plants speak..because the power of speech was not given to them by god for a reason..a very good one!
:)
some brain storming there!!! how did I miss this article & the amazing discussion there on. @Jenil,Good logic
@Neha. G. Bharadwag, valid arguments there.
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