A personal threadhttps://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🧸" title="Teddy bear" aria-label="Emoji: Teddy bear">

When my child was 4-5 we were at a breakfast restaurant & she asked how bacon was made

Mindlessly I said "From a pig"

Quiet for a moment, then
"This is a pig& #39;s skin?!"

"Yes, baby. But he died fast"

Tears welling up
"Was he with his mom?
Was he afraid?"
Why hadn& #39;t I thought these compassionate thoughts?

Why was it so easy to treat feeling animals no differently than fruit & vegetables?

I rescued cats & dogs

I was an animal lover

Why did this disconnect live in ME??
But I HAD thought the thoughts & asked the questions

Those that answered me chose to comfort me with lies about how happy the animals were & how my nutrition depended on eating them & the other products "they gave to us"
I lived on a house where people believed & spread these lies

I lived in a community where the people also believed & spread these lies

I became used to the lies & accepted the lies
The only time I stood against the lies is when the truth was right in front of me...

My uncles killed chickens, pigs, & lambs

It was a family event, & my uncles, aunts, & cousins smiled excitedly as we gathered to watch them murder terrified animals
They held down a crying lamb & slit her throat

I ran over to try to save the dying lamb

I used every bad word I& #39;d ever heard to scold my uncles & everyone else as I cried
That night I was punished with a belt for my words

They viewed words of hurt & desperation from a child as wrong, but not slitting the throat of a baby animal who was taken from his mom

What was wrong with these people? Why were their priorities so f& #39;d up?
A year later they brought a pig home to kill

He waited in a small pen

I asked my mom when they were going to kill him & she said "In the morning"

I begged her to stop them

She gave me the look she always gave me... The one that wished I was more like my brother
She worried about my feelings... But not about the animals

I waited til it was dark & set the pig free

Now... I was a child who didn& #39;t have a plan

I didn& #39;t know where the pig could go to be safe, I just wanted him to try

He ran into the field & the dogs started barking
I grabbed them one by one & put them in my grandma& #39;s shed

But it was too late... My uncles heard the barking & the pig squeals & killed the scared pig in the field that night

I didn& #39;t understand why they couldn& #39;t see the scared pig like I could

They only saw meat
I was no different than my beautiful hearted child... I just never had a family who cared enough to stand against accepted injustice

My daughter has that family

She removed the cult like indoctrination that I succumbed to so easily
Her concerns were mine - & this time it was in my hands to let my daughter know that compassion & a value for justice were admirable traits - & change was paramount to being a good person

We& #39;re vegan - because it& #39;s the bare minimum in a stance against injustice
You can follow @AnimalJustice6.
Tip: mention @twtextapp on a Twitter thread with the keyword “unroll” to get a link to it.

Latest Threads Unrolled: