I moved to a rural ohio farm town when I was ten. In the fourth grade we visited a slaughterhouse on a field trip. We were taken in and I was allowed to pet the cow and look in those beautiful eyes. I knew something bad was about to happen, but my naive little mind didn’t register it. We were asked to step out into the hall and a big steel door was shut.

We then heard a gun shot. We went back inside and the cow was strung up by the neck and slit from end to end. All of the insides came out into a giant container. There were many exclamations of eww, and gross, but to me, my soul was ripped apart that day. It was very natural for many of the kids because they grew up on farms, but my life changed that day.

We  took back the cow’s eyes to dissect in class. I went vegetarian that day but only recently did I go completely vegan. I always had a penchant for cheese and didn’t really research the plight of the dairy cows until a vegan friend kept posting their trials on Facebook. It woke me up and I’m completely vegan, though still dishearteningly cooking meat for my family who refuse to give it up 😦