What does being a vegan mean to me?

To be a vegan is not just to eat vegan. It also means to wear vegan, that is no leather, no fur, no wool etc. To be a vegan is to follow the 5 precepts. What are these? Ahimsa or practicing non-violence towards all beings, no talking untruths, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no intoxicants. There are different levels of abiding by this guidance for moral conduct. To be a vegan is to follow the highest level. For example, ahimsa means not to harm others, including animals. This logically points to a vegan diet. You can't eat meat and still claim to practice ahimsa. Countless animals suffer in the livestock industry. They are abused, raped, tortured, confined and finally slaughtered and packaged off to supermarkets. This is not vegan. To drink cow's milk is not ahimsa, it is himsa.

The cow is raped, tortured by squeezing her teats till the last drop often squeezing blood out as well from her raw, injured teats. She is forcibly impregnated, the farmer does not have the time, patience or the money to let reproduction occur naturally. It is naive to think that cows or any animals in the livestock or dairy industry reproduce naturally. No, they are raped. To drink cow's milk means you are partly responsible for the suffering of the innocent cows.

To me being a vegan is the symbol of an intelligent, compassionate and advanced civilization. Really, can we be anything else? Can we afford to? More on this later.