CHERYL

MY VEGAN STORY.

1. If there's a pig (a living one) and a strawberry right under your nose, would you actually salivate at the sight of the pig, or the strawberry? 

- We definitely wouldn't salivate at the sight of a (living) pig. At the sight of it, we would probably think that it's 'fat and cute' but words like 'delicious' wouldn't come to our minds instantly. Only when they are chopped up into pieces and presented to us as 'pork',  'barbecued pork', 'pork belly', words like "yummy" would surface. [Of course I'm referring to majority of us humans, not everyone. But if you're the minority who would actually salivate at the sight or at the thought of a living pig, then you're totally a savage haha]

2. To you, what's the difference between a pig and a dog?

- If you think that it is correct to kill a pig and eat it but wrong to kill a dog, just because one is cuter than the other, then that says a lot more about you than anything about these animals.

I'm sure most of us have heard of the annual Yulin Dog-eating festival in China, where about 10,000 dogs are slaughtered at each year. The dogs would get poisoned, beaten, killed and cooked. Ever since this happened few years back, this festival would cause a global outrage without fail. People would tweet #stopyulin, trend the hashtag, sign petitions and make big deals about it. People protested, complained and said that the Chinese (the people who started the festival and those who took part in it) were inhumane. 

When I first noticed the outrage on Twitter few years back (I wasn't vegan then), I got SO angry because I didn't understand why everyone was getting so uptight about the killing of dogs. Yes, I was angry about it too. But what made me angrier was, realising how bloody biased everyone was. At that point, all I could see was nothing more than just prejudice and more prejudice. People get so uptight when they see dogs being killed, yet they don't even flinch when they ingest a piece of chicken meat, because I mean, it's perfectly fine right? :-)

I remember being SO pissed off after seeing all that outrage on Twitter back then (I was NOT a vegan at all) because I felt like everyone was so biased towards dogs just because they are considered as "pets" and not "animals for consumption" like pigs, cows and chickens. It naturally became OKAY for us to kill pigs and love dogs. Just because.....I don't fucking know why.

I was just pissed off af. But even so, I knew I couldn't say anything much because firstly, I couldn't scold everyone, Secondly, I wasn't a vegan. If I raised my voice to speak, I'd be nothing more than just another hypocrite. I felt so hypocritical but I just kept quiet.

Oh and I forgot to mention:

- I believe this to a large extent, because the reason why our parents, grandparents and whoever non-vegans and non-vegetarians believe that "eating meat gives you protein" and "dairy is nutritious for you" is because this same information have been taught and passed down from our great great great great great great grandparents, to our great great great great great grandparents, to our great great great great grandparents, to our great great great grandparents, to our great great grandparents, to our great grandparents, to our great grandparents, to our grandparents, to our parents, and finally to us. 

When the same piece of information and knowledge is passed down by thousands of generations and when people from different generations are doing the same, it becomes correct and the norm. To put it simply, we live in a brainwashed society. 

When the same thing is heard and understood by so many people (let me correct myself - by EVERYONE), people naturally would think that it is right. Perfectly fine, perfectly okay to do. Because even if you have to kill that animal for your own selfish consumption, no one is going to blame you for it or say that you're a heartless murderer.

Don't we all agree that "just because everyone's doing it, doesn't mean it's right"? I'm sure we all agree to this because you see, it doesn't mean that just because people don't support homosexualism doesn't mean it's not right. Just because some people believe that they have the rights to kill animals, doesn't mean that they do.

Before I go on, let me clarify a few things:

Firstly, eating meat is NOT good for you. Meat is in fact, detrimental for our health because they contain carcinogens (cancer causing). This piece of news was released not long ago last year by WHO (World Health Organisation), go read it up if you haven't. 

Secondly, we humans do NOT need animals for protein. We can get protein from natural sources like vegetable, or from soy. People like to ask "Where do vegans get their protein from?" and the answer to that can easily be your best friend, Google. 

Thirdly, dairy milk is BAD for you and your bones. Milk depletes the calcium from your bones, and this is a complete opposite from what we normally hear - "Milk gives you strong bones!" Every information you need to know can be found on Google, and if you want to know why milk is bad for you, read this: http://saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/

Fourth point: Humans are the only specie that drink milk from ANOTHER specie on this planet. And may I add, the only specie that drink milk BEYOND INFANCY. Cow's milk is NOT designed for human consumption. (Again if you need, Google's right there for you.)

And finally, my fifth point: Milk industries claim and try to make us believe that milk is good and healthy, because I mean come on - they are ADVERTISING. If you owned Marigold or other milk companies, would you promote your own brand and convince your audience that "Milk is BAD for you?" I'm very sure you wouldn't. Shams and frauds, I call these.

Oh, this brings me to my sixth point - every glass of Silk's almond milk (a non-dairy milk) has 50% more calcium than dairy milk. (Talk about having calcium and strong bones?)

And yes, we've been brainwashed and tricked into believing that all these information were true. By saying this, I'm not forcing anyone into veganism. Instead, what I am trying to say is that we have to be impartial regardless of what we hear and learn. If the same thing is believed to be good for thousands of years, the same belief remains for thousands of years. If you're a parent yourself and you've spent 30 years of your life believing that meat and dairy are nutritious for you, what are the chances that you wouldn't teach your child the same thing as you've learnt and believed in your whole life? Chances are, zero.

All I can ask from you is to read this with nothing else, but an open mind.

So there you go, the three biggest takeaways from the video. I honestly encourage you to watch.

You know, I never used to understand vegans when they get provoked and angry whenever they talk about non-vegans eating meat. Even though I understood that from their point of view, that killing animals and eating them were considered inhumane, I just couldn't fully understand what was the reason behind all their rages. In fact, I used to hate vegans a hell lot. Because I felt that they were just so PREACHY and I'd always see them ranting and getting angry over the same few issues. To a non-vegan, a vegan may come off as rude, preachy and meddlesome. At least that was what I thought when I wasn't a vegan yet. My stand was - This is my life, and I'm the only one who can control it. No one else has the rights to dictate my life, so you shouldn't tell me what to do.
Yes, you should never be led by the nose by someone else, and you shouldn't listen to someone just because you feel like you have to or you need to. This is why I'm just sharing my own vegan story here, without any intentions of forcing anyone into veganism. We all have our own preferences, we make our own choices and we make up our own minds. Of course I'd be more than happy if you'd give veganism a go, but it isn't my intention to force anything upon anyone.
But if you're reading this now with a closed mind, I'd like to ask for you to be more permissive and unbigoted. Sometimes it's hard to believe what is right and wrong, especially when the truth gets reversed. But it's better to be honest and upfront with yourself, and at the end of this post I'd like you to ask yourself: who do you choose to believe?

Countless lies have been exposed throughout these years. Lies about the meat and dairy industries. Lies about how they are good for our health and for us. The same lies we have heard since we were born, and the same lies we still believe today.

We vegans are not trying to preach. That is not our intention. We do not think that we're the only right ones and that everyone else is wrong. We do not blame and hate you just because you're not a vegan like us. Most of the time, we blame the industries that have been brainwashing and indoctrinating us, and not the victims of this doing. We get angry because we care. (I mean if we don't, we wouldn't even bother.) We "preach" and rant because we see a need to stand up for animal rights, raise awareness, expose lies and most importantly, to be a voice for the voiceless.

What do I mean by "to be a voice for the voiceless"? In this case, the voiceless refer to the animals. Just because animals are voiceless and that they cannot speak up for themselves, that does not give us any rights to slaughter them and eat them. Just because we are capable of holding a knife with our hands and kill without having anyone else think that we're coldblooded and inhumane - just because no one would stop us from killing them, does not make us sinless or innocent.

I understand that most people think it's okay to eat meat because clearly, most of us aren't the primary killers of this massacre. We think that it's okay to kill as long as we aren't the murderers.
But by buying meat and eating them, it makes you an accomplice, doesn't it? Yes, you may not be the one in charge of a slaughterhouse and you may not be directly involved in the slaughter - but by buying meat and eating them, you're participating in the exploitation and murder of those animals.

"If you don't like seeing pictures of violence towards animals being posted, you need to help stop the violence, not the pictures." - Johnny Depp.
If roles were reversed and women were forced to milk - with milking pumps stuck to their boobs and milk being pumped out forcefully without anaesthesia, how would we feel? How differently would you feel? We humans, especially women, would definitely flip and protest. We would scream and cry for help if others force it on us and hurt us. Maybe not all men would think that it's that bad because it wouldn't be them, but if you have a wife or a daughter you love, this is not something you would like to see. As humans, we do not milk ourselves or chop ourselves into pieces because DUH, who in the right mind would do that to themselves? But when hurt is inflicted upon us by another, and when we are voiceless and unable to speak up for ourselves, can you imagine how suffocating and miserable that would feel? Imagine the pain of someone squeezing milk from your tits or your balls. How would that feel?

How would it feel if your death day was already predestined and arranged on the same day you were born? How would it feel if your child was taken away from you the moment they are born? How would you feel being held in captivity and live with zero freedom?

All I would like to ask you to do after reading that, is to put yourself into the shoes of a factory farmed animal, and to imagine all the fear and pain those animals have to go through. All I'm asking is for you to be more conscious.

People choose veganism for different reasons. Majority of us choose to stand up for animal rights, to stop participating in the exploitation and murder of innocent animals and for our health.

I choose veganism for animals, nonviolence, for compassion, for my health, for my conscience and for this beautiful planet.

I choose to stop eating meat because I don't support companies and people who kill animals. I firmly believe that everyone, every living being deserve to live. Humans are not superior - that is just a claim and something purported as truth.

Most importantly, I chose veganism because it allows me to live with a clear conscience.

Veganism is not about giving anything up or losing anything. It is about gaining the peace within yourself that comes from embracing nonviolence and refusing to participate in the exploitation of the vulnerable. - Gary L. Francione

 There is nothing to give up for if you choose veganism. It is about returning and not taking what's not yours in the first place.

Whatever it is, I believe that humans are naturally compassionate. We feel and we care. But we're just uninformed and oblivious to the truth. Because we were taught things that were said to be correct, because we don't get to see what actually happens in slaughterhouses. Because meat is so readily available for us anytime, because we aren't the direct murderers. Because we live in a fucked up world where killing and eating meat is the NORM while veganism is considered dumb and extreme. Because we live in a society that teaches us that it's morally acceptable to take the life of another living being away as we wish. Because we live in a screwed up place where it is wrong to kill people but perfectly okay to kill animals.

With that being said, I can never understand why, in a place where murderers are looked upon like monsters or criminals, slaughterers working in animal industries are looked upon as normal. You know why? "Because humans have victimised animals to such a degree that they aren't even considered victims. They are not even considered at all."

There is no difference between a dog and a pig. There is no difference between humans and animals. We're all sentient, normal living beings living on the same planet.

Thank you, for reading up till this paragraph. You can read till the end of this post and choose to finish reading this by making a decision. You can choose to be ignorant and continue supporting the killing of animals, you can choose to be selfish. But you can also choose to make a difference, to stop the killing, to see the change you wish to see in the world by being one yourself. More than 3,000 animals die every second in slaughterhouses around the world. Continue eating them or not, it's all your choice.

• 101 reasons to go vegan - https://youtu.be/W4HJcq8qHAY
• Best speech you will ever hear by Gary Yourofsky - https://youtu.be/_K36Zu0pA4U

Thank you for reading! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a comment below or ask me on: ask.fm/cheryyyyllll. (Oh and P.S. I would be glad if you could enter the poll on my home page! x)

LET'S BAKE:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

2. Whisk the coconut oil and sugar together, then add the non-dairy milk and vanilla extract.

3. In a separate bowl, mix: plain flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt together.

4. Combine both wet and dry ingredients, then add the chocolate chips. 

5. Roll the dough into small balls using your hands and then place them onto the baking sheet.

6. Bake for 8 minutes.

- I got this from Cold storage. You may also use The Soup Spoon's pumpkin soup.

2. Pumpkin (As much as you want)

- Honestly, just as much as you want! I usually get mine from Cold Storage, but NTUC has it too.

3. Mixed veggies - corn, carrots, green peas. (Optional)

- This are found in the frozen section at any supermarkets.

4. Sriracha sauce 

- Can be found in Cold Storage or Market Place. I got mine from iHerb!

5. Spices: Italian herbs and Chilli powder

- Can be found in local supermarkets.