Top 10 Tuesday: The PETA Team’s Vegetarian Epiphanies!

This week, we’re sharing 10 of our team’s “suddenly it hit me” stories about the moment they decided to adopt a vegetarian diet!

Agnes: I once saw a photo featuring a cute piglet and kitten. The photo’s caption read, “Who do you pet and who do you eat? And why?” I didn’t have an answer. That was the moment I realized that all beings feel pain and suffer.

Ashley: When I was 7, I was snacking on chicken nuggets when I found a vein in one of them. I realized that if chickens have the same parts as us, they must feel pain and suffer too. I went vegetarian immediately—and never looked back.

Becky: I watched a video on PETA’s website and realized that animals raised for food are inhumanely killed. Animals suffer every day because of the demand for meat. I decided to go vegetarian immediately.

Edward: I’ve always been environmentally conscious. In high school, I found out about the environmental costs associated with animal husbandry. I hadn’t known the real costs that we all pay just to satisfy the world’s hunger for meat. I owed it to myself and the Earth to go vegetarian.

Jana: I was browsing through YouTube videos and chanced upon “Meet Your Meat.” After the first three minutes, I was in tears. I decided right then and there that I would never eat animals again.

Jason: Growing up, truckloads of chickens would pass by my home on the way to the slaughterhouse. One day, I found a chicken who had accidentally fallen out of one of the trucks. She was so fat from being pumped with steroids that she couldn’t even walk. By the time I took her to a veterinarian, it was too late for her.

Katrina: During a childhood holiday to the countryside, I amused myself by playing with pigs, goats, and geese at a local farm. I was called in for supper that evening, and to my dismay, the entire meal was made from my playmates! From then on, I told myself that I would never eat my friends again.

Maggie: While I was working at an animal shelter in Beijing, I was introduced to PETA’s literature. After I read the materials, I realized that animals have the same rights as humans. I was turned on to a vegetarian lifestyle.

Rochelle: One day, a rescued pig wandered into my office in a Sydney shelter. I’d always loved cats and dogs, but when I saw the pig, I realized that it shouldn’t matter what animals look like—none deserve to be eaten. I went vegetarian that very night.

Sue: A young girl living close to my home used to bring over her little lamb during visits. Watching the trust and love that had developed between those two innocent beings made me look at my relationship with animals in a whole new light. It was easy to go vegetarian after that.

If these stories have inspired you to prevent cruelty to animals, help reduce environmental destruction, and improve your own health by going vegetarian, take our Pledge to Be Veg today. If you have a “suddenly it hit me” story to share, post a comment below!

Posted by Jason Baker