Three years ago, I killed a calf

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/