what I've learned...

[Balthazar]

wow...so I've been veggie most of this month. :) I'm starting to notice a change in my worldview,too. I used to look at animals with little regard to their well-being. I just didn't care too much. I mean, I wouldn't ever (directly) torture one, but I would think of them as robots or "automatons", not living beings with emotions, experiencing pain and pleasure, having personalities and intelligence.

As I do research into farm animals, I'm also discovering more of my cultural conditioning...I never thought of pigs as being anywhere near as intelligent or likeable as dogs. We're taught that pigs are "food". But you better believe if those factory farms were full of dogs that most omnis would be screaming for the meat industries to shut down... :/

[rissierissie]

It seems natural to me the way that a lot of veg*ns who start out for other reasons end up getting involved in the AR aspect of the life style. Now that you've removed yourself from the culture of meat you can look at it more clearly and see it for the destructive and horrible practice it is.

[Mrs. Skittles]

I think I look at the world with my eyes wide open. I, like many other people, was in denial about the atrocities that occur in factory farming and the slaughtering of animals for human consumption. As soon as I started researching the industry and finding out the truth I was absolutely appalled and ashamed that I had turned a blind eye for so many years.

I think being a vegetarian has turned me into a more compassionate person, towardsm animals and people as well. It has also inspired me to take a more active role in AR.

[Hotchilidog]

That's a very similar experience to myself Balthazar and it is the main reason why I know I'll never go back. I'm now a vegan and I think becoming aware of AR is a natural part of the process.

Once you have the information to hand you can never look at animals in the same way. It does also make me more angry with the casual indifference of omnivores to the suffering that happens on their behalf.

People often wonder why I've become a vegan and it is because of the animals, I see them as fellow inhabitants of our planet, "Earthlings" if you will, once you arrive at that viewpoint you will never be the same again.

[smiling_veggie]

When I first became a vegetarian I did it for the environment, but now that I am a vegan the animal rights issues are very important to me as well. Instead of looking at meat as food, I see it as dead animal flesh. I definitely feel like I have learned and grown and became a bit kinder in all aspects of my life since becoming a vegan.