My First Glimpse of The Cruelty I Never Used To See

Imagine you are living in Nazi Germany. You and your husband are on the way to meet some friends at a swing dancing party. Then you hear your husband say, what are they doing with those Jews in the truck? You look to your right, and there they are. Crammed in a space so small they cannot sit down or move. You look into their eyes, and see everything they are feeling and thinking all at once. Sadness, mourning, confusion, hopelessness. The truck quickly passes by, so you only get to look at them for about 30 seconds, but that 30 seconds seem to last forever. In that 30 seconds, you've seen everything you need to know.



That's exactly how I felt today when Jason was driving us (Ava and I) to a blueberry farm. We were meeting my girlfriend, her husband, and their little girl. All was well during the drive until my husband said, "why would chickens need to be moved?" I looked to my right and there they were. I gasped in horror as I looked at these chickens crammed in tiny cages. But what really got to me was looking in their eyes. I had never looked animals in the eyes like that. There was nothing there. No hope. No light. Just sadness. I never realized I could see so much in an animals eyes, especially since we were only next to this truck for about 30 seconds. I remember that 30 seconds feeling like an eternity. Its weird how these transport trucks have always been on our highways, but I never noticed them. Now that I have an emotional connection to farm animals, I see what I never used to see. Its one thing to witness the cruelty on the Internet, but another to see it first hand, less than 10 feet away. I will never forget those eyes. That sadness. I know it takes an awakening to see things in a whole new light. I went to a cock fight with my family on Guam years ago and didn't think much of it. Compassion exists within all of us, even people like me who weren't animal lovers before going vegan.

The chickens in this transport truck were probably egg laying hens who were done producing eggs, and were on their way to slaughter. The picture shown is not the one I saw, but one I found on the web. The moment came and went so fast that I was unable to take a picture. The egg industry relies on the female reproductive system. You know how us ladies drop an egg from our ovary every month? Well hens do this once a year in the spring, except in the factory, they are manipulated into having two cycles. How? First they are tricked into thinking its winter through light and food deprivation. Then the farmers blast on the lights and give them a high protein feed, tricking them into thinking its spring, time to lay eggs. In nature, they would lay about 25 eggs during their cycle, but on a factory, they lay about 250. The male offspring of these hens are of no use in the egg laying industry. We don't eat that breed, so they are discarded. What does that mean?

This is a dumpster full of live chicks. This is behind those twelve dozen eggs so innocently placed in all our shopping carts. This is what it takes to dye an egg for Easter. This is what it takes to make a chocolate chip cookie that can easily be made with other wonderful ingredients. This is one of the many reasons I am vegan. I wasn't sure where this post would go, but I am happy with it. The more images like this people see, and the more yummy vegan food people try, the more easy compassion will be. I'd like to thank my readers for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to sharing my plant happy life with you. xoxo.