Thursday, March 15, 2007

Changing Hearts, Rising Against

There has never been a video that have ever made such an impact on me more than Rise Against’s video, ‘Ready To Fall.’ I’m now in the transitional state from vegetarianism to veganism. Vegetarianism was easy. I only had to give up meat. I didn’t crave meat at all after that. It only affected me in that respect. Only food.

Now veganism is much, much more intense. This will probably the single biggest change in my life. I’m not exaggerating. This is gonna be the single hardest change I’m going to make to my lifestyle.

Veganism involves a lot of things. It involves not wearing any clothing made of leather or wool, and definitely not fur. This means I will probably have to check my wardrobe for anything that was made from either leather or wool, and just not wear it ever again. If what I heard of Nike shoes is true, that means I have to give up Nike shoes. If you know me well enough, you’ll know I bought a lot of Nike shoes in the past. Damn.

I won’t drink milk and eat cheese again. I won’t eat eggs (I never liked them anyway) and I won’t eat fish. I will probably never wear sports shoes from Nike or Adidas, if I have my sources right. I won’t buy stuff in KFC, even French fries or mashed potatoes. I’m gonna have to check every single piece of clothing’s tag to check if they’re made from wool every time I want to buy a new shirt or anything. I’ll never buy toothpaste that doesn’t say ‘Not tested on animals’ or ‘Cruelty-free.’ I’m gonna buy all my shampoos and stuff from The Body Shop (which I’ve already done anyway, and I absolutely love it :P ).

Damn. Fuck-a-doodle-do. This is gonna be one fucker of a task.

I’m gonna have to change the strap of my Swatch for a start. It says genuine leather in the back. All day I felt like throwing it away. It feels disgusting now to have it on my wrist. I think I might have to buy new school shoes. It looks like it’s made of leather. Urggh..

I’m sorry if it reads like a list. I kinda am making a list for myself, of what to do and what not to do.

I’m proud that the kind of music I listen to, is actually very much associated with veganism, radicalism and environmentalism. Punk rockers like Rise Against, Goldfinger and Billy Talent are all vegetarians. So are members of Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying and Hawthorne Heights. Well, not all the members. There are other popular artist as well who are vegetarians. Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, won an Oscar for that), Jorja Fox (CSI), Sophie Ellis Bextor, Jamelia, Joss Stone, etc.

I’m not becoming vegetarian because one of my favourite bands is. I turned vegetarian because I believed in the morals of not eating animals. Having them as role models only inspired me more.

Any respect I had for Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce Knowles I had lost when I saw photos of them in fur coats. They disgust me now.

I might sound like I’m ranting on and on. And maybe I am. I dunno... I just hope this anger towards carnivorism never goes away. I can’t see myself eating meat now. Ever. If you ever see me eat meat, slap me in the face and remind me of this blog. I want to make this happen. All the exhilaration of knowing that you’ve changed for the better, and still changing for the better. And all the disappointment of looking back on how you were oblivious to all the pain and all the hurt.

If you wanna know why I’m so disgusted of meat, leather, fur, milk, or even wool, either go to peta.org.uk, 'cows are cool' website, or just ask me directly.

Signing out

Over and out

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