Veganism: Absolute Compassion

Veganism: Absolute Compassion

Every vegan has, at one time or another, been met with a bewildered look and the notorious question. After explaining that they are not stuffing their faces with pizza or loading their bowls with ice cream because they do not use or consume any animal products or by-products, they are likely to be asked, and usually prepared for, the question that seems to accompany every meal eaten in public: "What do you eat, then?" The question is ridiculous when truly considered, as most people eat many things throughout the day that grow out of the ground, rather than coming from an animal. The real problem with the question is not its absurdity, but its incompleteness. "Why?" would be a much better inquiry.

Diet is not necessarily the main tenet of veganism, but is usually the one most focused on. At the tip of the iceberg, vegans do not eat meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy or honey. Still, many ingredients in processed foods come from other animal sources that most non-vegans never think about. Vegans are excellent label-readers. Some may think such a diet is a form of personal torture. For vegans, eliminating animal products from the diet is actually rewarding, and even a source of joy, because they are actively protesting oppression on a daily basis.

Unlike ethical vegetarians, who plead compassion but still continue participate in the system of animal torture they claim to be opposed to, ethical vegans have taken the next step and have chosen to completely disassociate themselves with the systematic abuse and slaughter of millions of animals a year. While cutting meat from one's diet is usually an act full of good intentions, it is not much more effective in stopping animal oppression than eating a meat-based diet. Dairy cows, for instance, are often slaughtered once they get too old to produce milk. Their offspring are often killed to make veal. Egg-laying hens are also killed when they are too old to lay eggs. In egg farms, male chicks are killed as soon as they are born, because they are unable to lay eggs. Their necks are snapped or they are simply thrown into dumpsters, alive, until they are crushed by a trash compactor. Even honeybees are treated inhumanely. Queen bees are farmed and transported to bee colonies in harsh conditions, often not surviving the trip. Also, it is common practice to kill the entire colony of honeybees at the end of the honey season, due to cost efficiency. In order to truly take a stand against such treatment of living things, one must cut animal products out of their diet completely. Even the occasional egg can mean thousands of dead and tortured chickens.

Granted, not all people who call themselves vegan will cite ethical reasons for their choice. There are plenty of "health food vegans." These people can usually be spotted at over-priced natural food markets. It may come as a surprise to some that a person can be healthy while eating a vegan diet, let alone that people would adopt a vegan diet solely for the purpose of health. In fact, people do not need animal products to stay healthy, and can even be healthier without them. The vegan diet is cholesterol-free, incredibly low in saturated fat, full of fiber, and doesn't include all of the antibiotics, growth hormones, and diseases found in ludicrous levels in meat, eggs, and dairy. Protein deficiency is often an assumed concern for vegans, but in fact a varied