Why I Am Vegan by Mayim Bialik
Being vegan is hard. It’s also rewarding, meaningful, and satisfying for many reasons: health, environmental, ethical, spiritual…
However, I am frequently asked why it matters to me if (insert name of animal here) dies, suffers, or is eaten. This is usually followed by something along the lines of: it’s not “that” smart/developed/cognitive and/or: it’s tasty. I can’t answer why it matters for all vegans, but I can try to answer it for myself.
I was born this way. I was born drawn to animals. As a child, I felt loved by our family cats, who comforted me when I felt lonely and gave me my first conscious experience of cuddling. I felt innate compassion for bugs and critters very early on in life; even before I started the 10 year long journey to whittle away consuming or wearing any animals or their byproducts. For me, veganism is a concrete way to show my feelings about animals; not your feelings, but mine.
I am not attacking you, so don’t be defensive! I show my love for animals by not eating them or participating in any business that profits directly from their exploitation or – if that word irks you – their “use.” You may show your love for animals by eating them. You may love animals, but only “intelligent” ones. You may draw the line anywhere you gosh darn please, but for me, I couldn’t draw it anymore so I just gave up the line. I threw out the line.
I recently visited an animal rescue sanctuary about 45 minutes outside of Los Angeles. The animals living there have been saved
from the most disgusting and vile situations; plunked from garbage heaps half-breathing, beaten and left for dead. At this sanctuary, they have been given a chance to live simply because someone thinks that they deserve to. There are horses wounded and discarded from rodeos, sheep and goats who were used as bait in dog fights, bulls with whip marks and the personalities to go along with them, calves left to die because they were deemed not plump enough for veal, 1000 pound pigs that want belly rubs and tiny speckled chickens and giant turkeys so outrageously patterned that both of my sons were literally shocked at what nature can do.
Well, frankly, I am shocked at what nature can do, too, and I am shocked at what humans can do. Cruelty, inhumanity, disdain, abuse, and denial of rights should not be inflicted on animals or humans, but both occur.
What really shocks me, though, is that there are also people who give their lives because they want to show that animals have feelings, animals are intelligent, and animals have rights and needs: to be loved, to be safe, and to be protected when humanity says “I don’t care.”
I am not the most politically savvy vegan, and I am also very nervous about offending non-vegans with facts and figures. I don’t
know if being vegan is the right choice for you, but for me, it is. And G-d bless the people who make it their life’s work to care for animals and to better the world the way it works for them – maybe not for you, but for them. It takes all kinds of people to make this wide world go ’round. We each have a purpose here on earth. And for those whose purpose is to show that animals have a purpose too, I say good for them. Draw the line wherever you want, but don’t mention it to these amazing warriors for animals: they’ve forgotten that the line even existed.
Mayim Bialik holds a PhD in Neuroscience from UCLA and is the spokesperson for the Holistic Moms Network (holisticmoms.org) and appears regularly on The Big Bang Theory. She hosts her own Facebook Page, The Official Mayim Bialik Page and is currently editing a book on holistic parenting, due out March 2012 by SImon & Schuster.
Thanks Mayim 
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I went to check out the shirts and got this error. “Firefox doesn’t know how to open this address, because the protocol (hhttp) isn’t associated with any program.”
I am not vegan, but I respect that some people choose that lifestyle. If it works for you and you feel happier and healthier because of it, then I am happy for you as well. Thank you for sharing your reason why.
I also appreciate that you aren’t preaching an “everyone must be this way” rhetoric. It’s hard to live in a world where people seem to expect everyone else to believe and act as they choose. Voices that speak of acceptance and choice for everyone are a refreshing change of pace from the insults and jabs from all directions.
What I find interesting is that “God” has been edited as if it was a profane word. As an atheist, I’m far from offended, but I do have to wonder what’s becoming of our society when words such as this require censorship. People really need a thicker skin.
To Mayim: thank you for sharing your views. I’m not a vegan myself, but I appreciate you candidly offering up a “piece of yourself” so that others may better understand different ways of thinking.
Sorry you had difficulty with the link. Please try this in the meantime.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/people4greenjustice
Thanks for your comment!
@Shikarnov
Writing G-d is a traditional sign of respect practiced by many Jews, to protect and honor the name of god. So opposite of ‘editing it out as if it was a profane word’.
@The Article
I also choose not to consume, wear or use animal parts in my life. Many people seem self-conscious around me when eating/ordering food, as if my just BEING veg is an accusation. I am veg because it makes me feel good. It hurts my heart to consume animals and so I do not do it.
Although not vegan myself (I am gluten free and find that enough of a challenge), I do respect that others choose this. Thanks for telling us why you made your choice.
I respect your (and others’) decision not to consume any animal by-product. What I don’t quite understand, though, is dairy. If milking an animal is a necessary part of an animal’s life, why do vegans not consume that milk? Or cheese? Or eggs? Surely no harm is done to the animals in that context. I have a hard time understanding the vegan movement. Vegetarianism I totally understand, but the vegan lifestyle I just don’t quite get (but again, I 100% respect it).
With all due respect, you _have_ drawn a line: between plants and animals. That your line is slightly higher up in the phylogenetic tree does not change the fact it is, nonetheless, a line. Plants react to stimuli, fend off predators, call for help, and are otherwise quite active participants in their environment (see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/science/22angi.html). They share enormous amounts of genetic machinery in common with their animal brethren. And yet you don’t bat an eye at murdering them to sustain yourself.
It is the unfortunate nature of being an animal that we must sacrifice other beings on the altar of our own continued existence. We can argue about where we want to draw our line, and why, and under what circumstances, but there will always be a line, and pretending otherwise serves only to give us an excuse to be self-righteous and to make ourselves feel better about the ugly parts of existence.
Shikarnov – I was curious and did a little research when I kept seeing “G-d” appear in mailings from my local JCC. It took seconds to learn that it was a Jewish custom. I’d rather take a few extra seconds to research something than needlessly criticize someone.
@Lisa
dairy cows are kept pregnant all of the time, forcefully because cows, like other mammals, don’t produce milk when they’re not pregnant. They are injected with hormones to produce more milk to make them more profitable to us. They would not need to be milked if there calves weren’t taken away from them. Male calves soon become “veal”, and female calves are the future dairy cows – full circle. The same applies to cheese.
When “egg chickens” give birth, half of the chicks, the male ones, are ground up alive because they are useless to the industry as they don’t lay eggs. See for yourself: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/01/chicks-being-ground-up-al_n_273652.html
Thanks Alexis! I appreciate it and so happy you enjoy the blog.
Thank you! So glad you enjoy the blog!
To those asking what’s wrong with dairy and eggs, check out http://www.earthlings.com. It’s a free documentary and you will see the highly disturbing treatment of chickens and cows. If you research why people are vegan, you will understand. I thought veganism was silly until I was asked to read about it so I could understand. I’m now vegan.
P.S. Nick, while I understand your logic, I invite you to watch earthlings and make a decision from your heart about whether or not the treatment of these animals is ok. Fortunately we don’t need to eat animals to be healthy. And it is as much a choice to participate in the chain-of-pain as it is to abstain. But until you see with your own eyes, it remains a heady argument.
P.P.S. Eating animals actually isn’t a sacrifice that is preserving our continued existence. To the contrary. There is a reason the United Nations is advising adopting a plant based diet for the sake of the environment and world hunger. And resources like “forks over knives” make a compelling case for why eating animals is not accomplishing the desired result of this “sacrifice.” We are just as healthy if not more healthy (vegetarians live longer than omnivores on average) when we abstain from said “sacrifice.” We may have dark parts to our existence, but I do my best to abstain from harm when possible. I think really it is silly for vegans to have to defend the choice to NOT do something.
Factory farmed meat is reprehensible. There is nothing “natural” about live animals being processed like inanimate objects.
Animals deserve to be treated humanely and with dignity, care and love.
This is one of the best ‘reasons for being vegan’ I have read as it comes from the heart and mirrors why I am now vegan (my love for my cats at a young age started off my love for animals!).
I am very shocked though by some of the comments as I still can’t believe that people don’t see why the dairy industry is cruel?!! Do people honestly think cows produce milk naturally? I guess so! People should do some research before making comments like that though. We’re not vegans for no reason; vegans avoid anything that cause suffering and cruelty to animals, not just for the sake of it! If we don’t eat something, it is because an animal has suffered to produce it. It’s as simple as that. And yes, not everyone is perfect. We are not trying to be. We are just doing the best we can and being vegan is one of the best things you can do.