Why Are You Vegan?

In 2011 my little twin brothers Alexander and Matthew 7 years of age, were diagnosed with a disease that changed my life. Crohns disease was not common for people at such an early age. But then again if your consuming substances that are a root cause for sickness, mistaken that you were eating the best of products, then it won’t matter how old you are, what age you are, your gender, what your genes, heritance and family history is. You will get sick, or at least you will not be healthy. I believe that the cause for my little brothers’ sickness was animal product. We live on a farm and had access to our own produce. We knew our Sunday roast lamb and BBQ chops were full of home grown quality protein, but when a family member gets seriously ill and is flown to hospital 4 hours away for 2 weeks, you question why and how? Pharmaceutical drugs and poisoned foods were not only the answer but the reason for why I am proudly vegan.
 
Veganism is ridiculed by so many people when they ask, why are you vegan? But I like to ask back, where is your compassion? To live a fully compassionate way of life you will be living by the term ‘vegan’. Choosing to act with compassion is an affirmation of our character. It is a trait of your personality and a way of lifestyle. People ask aggressively because deep down they are scared to take responsibility of their actions. They try to intimidate and disempower you with bitterness and sarcasm. This is all emotion because they do not understand. If you understand the ethics to being kind and the meaning of non-violence, you will know that to mutilate, torture and slaughter are not the answer to consuming the correct nutrients and balance our bodies need. We pay people to carry out animal cruelty. It is for no necessity or for our health, it is just because we like the way they taste and it has become a way of life. I am vegan for compassion. “Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures” – Einstein

Equality has been a major subject in society throughout 2015 and 2016 mainly based on sex and race, but what about the environment? Without the environment we do not exist. That is a good enough reason to see it as equally important. The environment comes under the heading of equality just as much as any other issue but is not cared for enough. The earth’s soil was made for plants and wholefoods to naturally occur and grow in a healthy and nutritious bundle of substance. Today veganism is a label. It’s not seen as the normal lifestyle otherwise it would not be classed as a diet. Yet is the most natural and digestible way of consuming. It has been lost throughout the centuries and its purpose is only slowly rising. It is a way of eating to stay healthy, strong and disease free. To give you energy, vitamins and minerals through colours, shapes and sizes of fruits, vegetables, legumes, herbs, spices and grains. We can only source these foods from the environment which we should treat as a living friend. It is our home, our producer and our life. The chemicals we have burdened Mother Nature with has made our natural habitat and lifestyle disappear. It has made veganism seem like a duty and has become expensive and often challenging. The more we care for our environment the easier being vegan and understanding its purpose will be. I am vegan for the environment. “Let thy food by thy medicine” –Hippocrates.

The difference between a vegan and a non-vegan is that at the end of the day a vegan understands. We are not confused, asking questions or wondering why. We have lived your lifestyle but you have not lived ours. We have a non-vegan, vegetarian and vegan perspective. You only have one. We don’t have to ask why you aren’t a vegan. When you can’t understand something it’s because you can only see your perception. Trying to explain to someone why I am a vegan is a difficult task, almost impossible in fact. It’s taken me years and hours of research to back up my beliefs so why would they take in my perspective straight away just because they heard me say it. So I have decided it is much more realistic to not aim to prove anything, but only to do my best to give others an understanding and in too many situations someone has had to become sick themselves for things to change. If healing naturally didn’t work then naturopaths, herbalists and homeopaths wouldn’t have jobs and wouldn’t stay in business. The proof is out there you just have to believe it. If you are sick, in pain or uncomfortable physically, mentally, spiritually or emotionally there is a way to help yourself and it will always come back to doing things the way earth intended and through the food you put in your mouth. If it doesn’t then you are not healed no matter how you think you feel. I am vegan for the people. “My body will not be a tomb for other creatures” –Leonardo Da Vinci

The most simplest and universal reason to being a vegan is because it is the right thing to do. People go vegan for different reasons and there are hundreds of reasons for choosing to avoid animal products. There is no perfect answer to why someone is a vegan but I do know that it is because we choose to act with compassion and care for the animals, the people and the environment. I am vegan for compassion. I am vegan for non-violence. I am vegan for the people. I am vegan for the planet and I am vegan for the animals. I am vegan because it is the right thing to do.