I have to share a personal experience I had the other night, and what it meant to me- as well as what I plan to do about it.

I was leaving the local gas station, which is close enough to the freeway that it has a specific, different area for trucks to pump diesel. A truck was there, and it happened to be full of cows.

Now the imagery of any feeling being bunched onto a truck headed for slaughter is, and I think should be, problematic. But in that moment, I saw one of the cows looking at me.

My impulse was the same as with most any other critter looking at me in a not-unfriendly way: I wanted to give it treats and scritches. I specifically had an impulse to go back in, get something to feed the moo cow, and then attempt to befriend it.

And I have been struggling ever since with the dichotomy of that and my American, beef-heavy diet. I wasn't unaware of the beef industry's shenanigans before, but this experience put a face to the concepts. I can't justify it.

I'm not going full vegan or anything by any means. For one, dairy is awesome. I'll probably even still eat beef occasionally- but I am definitely going to be a lot more aware of my consumption- and there will be less of it.

Pigs too.

Chickens? I'm on the fence. They're literally little dinosaurs and would gladly- GLADLY eat us if the sizes were reversed. 😮