La profesora Isabel Ariño participó el pasado martes día 14 de febrero en nuestro curso “La educación desde el respeto a los animales”. Isabel quiso que una alumna suya, que ahora se encuentra cursando 2º de Bachillerato de Artes Escénicas, participase en el curso y le pidió que escribiese un texto.
From Aula Animal, we want to thank Indira García Campos for her help, even though she couldn't be there. Hugs, colleague!
My name is Indira, I'm 17 years old, a second-year high school student studying Performing Arts in Figueres (Girona), and I'm vegan. My passion and love for animals has always been with me. My parents raised my sister and me to respect all animals on the planet, ever since we were little. There have always been pets at home. In fact, when I was born, there was already a six-year-old German Shepherd waiting for me, so I've always lived among them.
I've always had a "special connection" with the animal kingdom. From a very young age, I've defended them, cared for them, and cried for them. My mother explains how, when I was just starting to walk, she would bring home little animals she found in the countryside to save them (grasshoppers with broken legs, little birds with broken wings, even the occasional snake half-crushed by a car).
But my experience with animal rights grew and began, so to speak, when I was 15. I was in my fourth year of secondary school in Almudévar (Huesca), and in ethics class taught by Isabel Ariño, we watched the documentary "Peaceful Kingdom." This documentary recounts the horrific lives of animals on factory farms and the experiences of people who refused to participate in this injustice. I remember how tears streamed down my face in that class. Actually, many of my classmates were crying too. But mine was special. They simply expressed how saddened they were by this suffering. And that was it.
Yo, sin embargo, llegué a casa con muy mal cuerpo y dejé la hamburguesa que tenía para comer en el plato. Recuerdo que mi madre me preguntó qué era lo que me sucedía y yo no pude evitar desmoronarme por colaborar con esa industria, la industria del sufrimiento. A continuación, envié un mensaje al Departamento Veganízate con Gaia (conocía a Santuario Gaia porque previamente tuve que hacer una exposición para clase de ética sobre ellos) y les escribí pidiéndoles consejos sobre como hacerme vegana con 15 años.
El 7 de enero de 2015 recibí su mensaje, donde había una infinidad de recetas veganas y le dije a mi madre que me haría vegana a partir del día siguiente. Ella, emocionada, me dijo que el veganismo le resultaba demasiado para una adolescente, y que se sentiría más tranquila y que sería una maravillosa forma de comenzar haciéndome vegetariana, y que el veganismo lo dejara cuando hubiera acabado mi desarrollo y fuera adulta.
And so, on January 8, 2015, I became a vegetarian. I stopped eating meat and fish overnight. For purely ethical reasons. Because five minutes of culinary pleasure don't outweigh the millions of deaths a day, the millions of daily tortures.
Animales que no ven el sol hasta que salen del camión para ir al matadero, que son engordados de manera descomunal para su comercio cárnico, que son criados desde su nacimiento hasta su muerte en jaulas donde ni siquiera pueden tumbarse o darse la vuelta, donde el vínculo madre-hijo se rompe al ver el negocio en ello, de peces y ecosistemas marinos que se están aniquilando día a día. Y esto es solo una pincelada de todo lo que se vive a nivel mundial.
When I arrived at high school, I couldn't help but tell my tutor, counselor, and ethics teacher, Isabel, who was also a vegetarian and was largely responsible for opening my heart to the animal kingdom. In fact, she brought me vegetarian meals throughout the year to try and learn how to cook with them. Let's just say that's how I began my journey into the world of respect for other species.
But after two years, I began to feel that what I was doing—being vegetarian—wasn't right for me emotionally. I wasn't proud of myself as a vegetarian. I needed to take the next step, the leap to veganism, which would bring peace to my emotions and make me feel 100% proud and satisfied with my work.
As a vegetarian, I didn't eat the calf, but I separated it from its mother to exploit her and drink her milk every morning. I didn't eat the chicken, but I forced the hen to live in a dreadful cage and produce eggs unnaturally so I could make an omelet. I felt terrible, and a feeling of guilt began to gnaw at me again.
When I explained these feelings to my mother (she's neither vegetarian nor vegan), she told me she had already noticed changes in my behavior. I stopped putting cheese in my pasta sauce, I stopped making cheese sandwiches for class, I stopped cooking omelets, and I replaced cow's milk with plant-based milk.
So, thrilled to see my progress unwittingly, on September 16, 2016, I became vegan. And it's the best decision I've ever made. Knowing all the cruelty that exists and abstaining from it is the most rewarding feeling I've ever experienced.
Going vegan has forced me to cook for myself, to vary my food much more, and to discover a cruelty-free culinary world that was right in front of me but that I never saw before. And not just in terms of food, but in terms of my overall lifestyle. No more wool sweaters, no more gels that contain dairy, no more cosmetics that aren't natural…
What does the doctor say? You might be wondering. A week after making my big decision, I went to the doctor to discuss it and ask for advice on various vitamins and proteins. His response was that with a balanced vegan diet I wouldn't have any problems, that I could get vitamin B12 (which is the most difficult to obtain and is found mainly in eggs) by eating a handful of nuts regularly and through a variety of foods, and that instead of soy milk daily, I should opt for oat milk. In any case, he told me that he would have me get blood work done every year to monitor my health (blood work I was already doing since becoming vegetarian), and especially to check my vitamin levels.
The psychophysical well-being I currently experience is indescribable. I have my moments of joy and sadness because I am, after all, human, and my moments of strength and weakness, because I am still human. But the feeling of personal satisfaction I carry within me is indescribable.
To abstain from the horror that is experienced daily and that everyone turns a blind eye to in order to enjoy that slice of hamburger, that sirloin steak, that salmon… is a commitment that leads to happiness and personal fulfillment by not being a part of it. And, moreover, it's a healthier choice, both physically and mentally.
Throughout this process, I've always encountered people, wherever I've gone, who opposed my decision. Their arguments were always the same: that it's the cycle of life and it's something that's always been done this way, that animals are meant to be eaten, that I won't get enough vitamins or protein, that my thinness is due to this type of diet, that I'll never be able to eat out again, and so on.
When responding to these arguments, I always give the same answers:
It's not the cycle of life because there are much healthier alternatives for everyone. Animals aren't in this world solely for consumption, but to live, just like humans. The plant kingdom is the most abundant in protein and vitamins. My thinness has been confirmed by doctors to be due to various factors unrelated to my diet. Eating out isn't a problem because nowadays there are thousands of environmentally conscious restaurants, and even those that aren't always offer plant-based options.
It's a shame that there are so many prejudices about vegetarianism and veganism these days. Most people I know unconsciously oppose lifestyles based on respect for the planet, especially for animals, and when I explain why, their answer is always the same:
I respect and believe you have a lot of willpower, but I couldn't do it. The meat is just too good!
To which I say:
If I could do it, why can't you? Liking meat isn't an excuse, because then it's not that you can't, but that you don't want to.
Once, Emma Watson, in a speech for the UN about her feminist campaign HeForShe, posed two questions that I asked myself at the beginning of my decision and that I ask people who are genuinely interested in my lifestyle.
If not me, who? If not now, when?