Going five animals more

Philip Wollen

A few years ago I prepared a list.

And it dawned on me that here were literally thousands of animals I didn't eat.  . . . . . dogs or cats, bears or bats, tigers or turtles, horses or hamsters, rosellas or rats.

Nor did I drink the milk of dogs, donkeys, giraffes, or cats.

I decided to go only five animals more. . . . I simply added cows, sheep, pigs, chickens and fish to the list.

It was a breeze.

I didn't crave lamb any more than I craved lion; I didn't miss beef any more than I missed bandicoots. I didn't miss chicken any more than I missed cheetah. I didn't miss pork any more than I missed porcupine.

I replaced dead animals with an astounding variety of colorful, delicious and healthy plant foods.

And I feel better for it.

I sleep peacefully and deeply. I now have boundless energy, more than people half my age.

My memory has improved rapidly. I remember what an unexamined life I had lived.

And I care more deeply. For my family, my friends, my colleagues and associates. For strangers I have never met. For causes I have only heard about. For ideas. For the arts – music, poetry, theatre, literature, painting, the ballet.

Everything of beauty seems to come alive. More vividly. More subtly. More completely.

I didn't know what I had been missing.

My greatest regret in life was that I did not do this earlier. What madness could infect us so profoundly that we justify the murder of weaker innocent living beings?

When I die I would like the chapel to be filled with people I have loved. Not the tortured souls of animals I have killed.

Adding only five animals to an already huge list was the easiest (and wisest) thing I ever did.

Try it. You won't regret it. Not for a second.

The animals will thank you for it.

The planet will thank you for it.

And the farmers, the taxpayers and your family will thank you too.

Good things will come to you. It is inevitable.