We are taught as children to practice certain ways of seeing the world
and of relating to others, and we gradually become adept in these
practices. In our culture, we are taught to practice disconnecting the
reality of animal flesh and secretions in our meals from the actual
reality of the animal cruelty required to get them onto our plates.

Going vegan is a commitment to practice something else, to practice in
a completely different way than we were taught by our culture. Instead
of practicing desensitizing, disconnecting, and reducing others, we
practice reconnecting, resensitizing ourselves, and respecting others.
This commitment comes from deep within us, from our inherent compassion
and our inner urge to evolve spiritually and to live with awareness,
kindness, freedom, and joy.

April 6th
It is illuminating to look at our treatment of animals and see how our
mistreatment of them has painful repercussions for us. The ironies
involved are remarkable. For example, animals in the wild are never
fat, but animals raised for food are severely confined and fed special
diets and given drugs and hormones in order to make them unnaturally
fat. They’re sold by the pound, after all. Sowing obesity in billions
of animals we reap it in ourselves.

April 5th
The essence of the mentality that allows us to confine and kill animals
for food is the mentality of exclusion. We are all taught by our
culture from infancy to exclude certain beings from the sphere of our
compassion. Veganism is a radical response to this: it is a mentality
of utter inclusion: we consciously practice including all living beings
within our circle of caring; we exclude no one.

Anger is an
expression of exclusion. It destroys veganism and compassion. We are
called, as vegans, to transform our anger toward those who are harming
animals, people, the Earth, and future generations into compassion and
understanding for them.

April 4th
Fish absorb and intensely concentrate toxins like PCBs, dioxins,
radioactive substances, and heavy metals like mercury, lead, cadmium,
and arsenic, all of which are linked to cancer as well as nervous
system disorders, kidney damage, and impaired mental functioning. They
contain excessive amounts of cholesterol, animal protein, and
hazardous, blood-altering oils. Besides contributing directly to human
disease and suffering through the toxicity of its products, the seafood
industry causes enormous damage to marine ecosystems throughout the
world.