Right after his birth, I dragged him away from his crying mother and locked him in a wooden box. He was afraid ... he was lost ... he was shaking. But I put him this box to make sure he would not drink his mother's milk ... The milk I need for MY cheese, MY yogurt, MY ice cream.
I left him in this box for eight weeks, feeding it with a cheap replacement formula. He lived in his own filth and cried after his mother day and night. So, I took it out of the box and carried it into a room. Although I dragged him unceremoniously into this sordid place, he tried to suck my fingers. He reached out to me in a kind of surge of love, doing everything in his power to fill the void created by his mother's absence. It was pitiful. When we arrived in the room in question, I hung him up by his hind legs and put an end to his misery. He kicked for a minute or two while he was bleeding. A few hours later, he was cut up into pieces and packaged into small, clean packages and shipped. The veal. Mmmmm. Tender calf.
Three years ago, I saw the video showing me that calf that I had killed. The fact that it was not me who dragged him to the ground or who handled the knife does not matter. I am the one who demanded cheese, yoghurt and ice cream. And as luck would have it, there was someone out there who was more than happy to provide it to me.
Three years ago, I fell on my knees, I cursed the sky and the whole of humanity, and I screamed like I had never done before. I shouted for this calf. I screamed for forgiveness, but no one answered me.
All my life I had thought I loved animals, and I had spent the last twenty years refraining from eating their flesh because of that belief. But until three years ago, I did not know that I was still hurting so many animals. I was not doing them harm: I tortured them, I mutilated them, I deprived them of the mother that EVERY baby on this planet needs. I deprived them of any semblance of comfort or joy. I could not have been crueller.
Three years ago, when my screams stopped, when the sudden overwhelming hatred I felt towards humanity began to subside, I swore to every calf, every chicken, every pig, each turkey, each fish, each shrimp, and all the other animals I had eaten in my life, that this time I was done. I had finished. The truth had been hidden for so long. But now, I knew. Good God how I now knew.
Three years ago, from vegetarian I then became a vegan. I cannot change the past. But I can learn from it. I can learn how and why this horrible truth has been withheld for so long. I can make these liars pay for forcing me to be so cruel for so long. I can make them pay by telling others the truth ... Others I know, and I know they care about animals as much as me ... Others I know, and I know that they do not want to kill that calf. I am vegan, now and forever. For the rest of my life, I will speak on behalf of this calf. I will spend my life absolving my faults towards him, to make his life meaningful. I never wanted to hurt you. I will never be able to harm you again.
Article by Jeff Rosenberg
One Voice Translation
Shared on Let the Animals Live, Israel
Website: http://www.letlive.org.il/eng/
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