Hello everyone, I’m 15 and I've been vegan for more than a year and a half (anonymous on request)
I was a vegetarian since birth and I was often teased by my classmates for it. I once saw a video of Arvind Animal Activist titled “Do plants feel pain?”. I found it very sensible and interesting, so I watched other videos on his channel. I was just so shocked to see the horrors of the dairy industry.
I always believed that eating meat was cruel, but I had no idea about the dairy industry and its dirty secret. When I saw what’s being done to cows in dairy farms, I knew I was never going to have dairy products again even though I used to love their taste. I didn’t care about anything. I just knew it was wrong and must be stopped. But ethics are not enough to convince other people. So I then researched veganism and animal rights. I am vegan for the animals and animals alone.
My friends never supported me. They never teased me either. They just don’t like talking about it. I sometimes try to bring up veganism but they immediately change the topic. My parents aren’t very supportive either, they don’t listen to what I see but they just let me do whatever I want. And we all know how “easy” it is to convince your vegetarian parents that cow milk belongs to a calf 🙂
I went vegan a few weeks before my 14th birthday. And one of my friends made a vegan cake for my birthday. I think it's amazing because even if they don’t turn vegan, they realise that it's not very difficult to go vegan and that vegans are just like everyone else (a bit more sensible maybe xD) and also that you can still eat so many delicious foods without harming animals. I understand that it’s not as easy for everyone as it was for me, but that’s not a justification to continue killing animals.
I didn’t feel any physical change after going vegan tbh, as it was just the dairy products that I stopped eating. But I think Veganism has changed my perspective. It made me look at the world in a way I never did before.
If you’re a non-vegan reading this, I just have one thing for you:
Look at the world with an open mind. Look, and then decide for yourself, what’s right and what’s wrong.