I was 12 when I stopped eating other animals. It was 1986. My older brother had this incredibly cool girlfriend that I desperately wanted to impress. Her name was Karyn and she was new-wave and she was vegetarian. I dyed my hair black and started saying "no thanks" to my mom's beef chili. I don't know if she noticed the changes in me, the girlfriend, but I started to notice things about myself and the world around me that were previously out of view.
Karyn wasn't an active, outspoken vegetarian. I don't remember her wearing any Meat is Murder t-shirts or shocking me with statistics, yet I wanted to know more about what it meant to be veg. There was no internet in the 80s so I got my info from PETA via all the free literature they sent me through the mail. I remember excitedly ripping open that manila envelope and being - horrified. I couldn't imagine inflicting or enduring that kind of suffering: LD50, the Draize eye test, leg hold traps, anal execution, PAC, rape racks, veal crates...It was too much. I stopped sleeping. I cried alone in my room, but I didn't look away. I don't know why, but I didn't decide that I was too young or too alone to make a difference. I had the information and I had to do something about it, even if that something only affected me and my little part of this insane world.
I was the only vegetarian in my very conservative, very catholic elementary school. Fortunately, the other kids were too confused to be cruel. If there were other vegetarians while I was in my more liberal public high school, they didn't show themselves. The animal rights movement was very new in the 80s and my beliefs were regularly attacked, but, oddly, mostly by the teachers and not all of them were mine. There was also the friend of a friend whose father was furrier and she was getting a coat for Christmas, the cafeteria lady who responded with blank stares when I mention vegetarian options, much like the lady behind the counter at Shopper's Drug Mart when I asked where they stocked the cosmetics not tested on animals. High school was hard and I was depressed and feeling overwhelmed. I wasn't going to give up, but I wasn't sure how I was going to make any kind of a difference either. There was just me. That is until grade 11 when I had the most amazing, open-minded world issues teacher. Ms. Druce supported my views, even if they weren't her own and helped me to express them clearly and with effect. She mentored my awesome animal rights club where I was able to find and form friendships with like-minded individuals. The independent research project (IRP) that I did on animal rights and factory farming (complete with slide show and audio clips) was given an A+ and I was asked to present it to other classes. She gave me the courage to book a speaker and host a seminar on factory farming for the higher grades and table on various animal rights issues in the front hall. She gave me the support and the self-confidence that I needed to make the next logical step - veganism.
It's 2013 and I'm still vegan. It is my favourite thing about myself. A few years after highschool I found out that some students who were present during the seminar and IRP presentations became veg themselves. It was an incredible feeling to know that I, little punk rock me, was influencing change and raising awareness. Although most of my time now is spent planning and packing lunches and helping with homework, veganism is still my favourite thing about myself and I look forward to a day when my little ones will need me a little less and my focus can once again be making the world a better place for all us - fur or no fur.
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