In a world where humans reign as the dominant species, other inhabitants of earth are forgotten or trod upon in our race to success.   In all honesty, it is almost sickening to be grouped with those who think that it's acceptable to torture and murder others.  Regardless of race, religion, gender, age, even species; we, earthlings, have souls.  We are alive.  We feel pain, we feel sorrow and joy, we understand what's happening around us, even if that level of understanding varies.  An adult horse has the average intelligence of a two-year-old child.  Yet it is acceptable to beat and starve a horse, whereas it would never be acceptable to do the same to a two-year-old child.  Is it because they can't speak?  They can communicate what's wrong.  The wounds and emaciated appearance in itself can translate the problem into currency we can perceive.  But because they cannot cry, because they cannot form syllables, they are quickly assumed to be incapable of intelligence worth taking notice of.
            Humans were made to eat meat.  Our stomachs can digest both plant and animal matter, and out teeth are equipped for tearing into flesh.  We are predators, just like any big cat or bear.  There is one substantial difference however.  You do not see (normally) a lion kill a gazelle after that gazelle has been trapped in a confined space for an extended period of time.  When a predator is hungry, they search out their prey, go after it, and kill it as quickly as possible.  There is minimal contact with the animal while it is living.  For years, that gazelle has run and jumped through the savannah.  Odds are they've reproduced, and we're able to raise their offspring and teach them everything they've learned in their own life.  They may never have even seen that lion before the day they died. 
          Now look at humans.  We raise copious amounts of animals, more than could ever be consumed in the areas they are being sold in, and do so in such a way that exercises as much control as possible over these other life forms.  Often times as well, these animals are killed sloppily and painfully.  Regardless of the image that people would like to associate with the patty on their plate, these animals are usually shot in the head with a stun bolt, then hung over a drain and bled to death.  The argument is that they feel no pain.  Is a little dignity too much to ask though?  Does anyone else have a problem with the thought of a living creature bleeding to death after being hung like an old sock from the ceiling?  This post is turning into an unnecessary rant, but at this point I don't want to read any more about how humane it is to shoot a metal bolt into an animal's head.  Previously, this was not the reason that I chose to be vegan.  But it makes me sad.  Food or not, death makes me sad, and so I try to stay as far away from it as possible.






I just...I can't.