Do any other vegetarians or vegans sometimes feel overwhelmed and sad about what is happening to animals?!
Answers: Sometimes I feel like I wish I didn't know anything about what is going on I am glad I don't eat animals or wear them and stuff but I sometimes imagine what it must feel like to be used and abused the way animals are. Not just for meat, I am meaning everything going on. I wouldn't have known so much if it weren't for the internet when I was looking on advice about becomin veg. So now if I even read, see, hear or think about any animal abuses even the poor animals who have homes but their owners beat them all the time I get very depressed and I cry and cry and cry. Am I some kind of weirdo for this? I know I will be put down by many a meat eater and people who don't care for this question but I will just ignore anything they have to say I understand that they dont understand about caring about animals as much as I do. Anyways sometimes it hurts so bad that I want to die (I wont do anything to myself) because I cannot take it anymore. I did talk to a doc about this and I am ok mentally.
To FedUp: I know exactly how you feel. Sometimes I feel like ignorance really is bliss, and wish that I could be blissfully unaware of how animals are abused. It's hard to have so much empathy for animals in a society that treats animals as though they're inanimate objects.
It helps to keep things in perspective. Slavery was not abolished in the developed world until the 19th century. Only in the last century was child labor ended, child abuse criminalized, women allowed to vote, and minorities granted wider rights. PETA wasn't founded until 1980. If you look at the big picture, there is reason for optimism in my opinion.
Remember that you're just one person, and you can't take the burden of all the animal suffering in the world onto your shoulders. Maybe search for some animal rights or vegetarian groups in your area -- it helps to spend time with people who share your values. Hope this helps!
To Aki:
Over ten billion animals are suffering and being slaughtered every year in the U.S., just so that we can enjoy the taste of meat. Ten BILLION. I know that since you're a meat-eater, it's a minor issue to you, but it certainly isn't a minor issue to me.
Caring about people and caring about animals are not mutually exclusive. In the words of Peter Singer: "When non-vegetarians say `human problems come first', I cannot help wondering what exactly it is that they are doing for humans that compels them to continue to support the wasteful, ruthless, exploitation of farm animals." You can go out and do whatever it is you do to help people, and still help animals by eating vegetarian meals, not wearing fur, etc.
When will all the human problems be solved? In a thousand years? In a million years? I'm guessing that as long as humans are alive, they will wage wars against each other and suffer from problems. Human problems are very important, but that's not an excuse to do nothing about animal suffering.
Endangered animals are also important, but why are they more important than farmed animals? Farmed animals are being slaughtered while fully conscious, mutilated without painkillers, confined so intensively they can't move, suffering from untreated broken bones and other injuries, and so on. Don't you think that such extreme suffering deserves our concern?
i know how you feel. my whole family which is big eats meat but i don't because i just can't bare to eat something that used to be alive and then was brutally killed and cooked. if you are crazy then your not the only one. you are just a very caring person and the animals are lucky to have you on their side.
try to change things slowly
may be you can stop it from happening in ur neighbour hood
then u can spread the information to ur near n dears
they will tell thier freinds n so the message will spread
do something, there is no use if u keepcryin without acting in the right way
yes, it is overwhelming, and sad. I feel really sick about it too, when I see abuse on t.v. or internet. For that reason I don't watch this subject on line, or in magazines anymore. My parents get PETA magazine, and when I visit them I do not read it. I support various organizations, but one person can only do so much, and I have to work on accepting that. Take good care of the animals you keep, continue to not eat meat, and try to teach others kindness and humane treatment of animals. That is all you can do. Try not to dwell on all the negative.
All the time
I cant stand it sometimes but I just have to remember that I can only do so much
Im glad I dont eat meat but I see somany other people that do and just wonder if they know whats really going on x
eating veg is really a good habit and is very healthy non-veg causes fat and some dieases
I do, but I also know that this is a minor issue in the bigger scheme of things. And if you can't see it as a minor issue, then you must be insensitive to human beings as their are children being bombed in Iraq, tortured in Uguanda, abused here in America...starving children...starving people period...and people who just need plain help. I think we need to solve those issues first before we take care of the animals...adn besides...endangered animals need it more than farm animals.
May i suggest you use those feelings to create positive action and change ?
You feeling sad is an inward feeling and does not help you, animals or the situations. Its entirely negative.
Use your belief and passion to create change.
Yeah I have a theory that we produce the chemicals which lead to feelings of empathy and compassion far more than the rest of the world. This is the opposite of being a psychopath, as they are unable to produce these chemicals at all.
Yes, I try to stay positive and keep trying to gently change the world, but sometimes it feels so horrifying to think about it that the tears just well up in my eyes...my little boy is a vegetarian activist already, talking to other kids, but there is so much habit and ignorance that it feels overwhelming sometimes.
What helps me stay optimistic is to think of it in terms of evolution: the planet cannot support the consumption of meat much longer, and people like us are becoming more and more numerous, so one day, even if it takes a hundred or a thousand years, abusing and killing animals or humans will be illegal.
Absolutely! Every time I see someone chomping away a a hamburger- or any other kind of meat, I get a little teary eyed because it hurts to see them eating dead things not even knowing that that poor cow , or chicken, or any other kind of meat, went threw so much pain and misery, just to satisfy human taste buds.
As a confirmed meat eater I do not feel overwhelmed except by bleeding hearts.
Hi
Sensitivity is a good quality. The world needs more people who care for animals.
I believe in you, go girl !! :-)
I totally agree. I wonder if im over sensitive because my mum was askin me some questions on how i feel the way i do about being a vegetarian and i almost cried! But i feel it is totally unnceccessary and as far as im concerened all life is sacred! I like to think i am making a small difference in the world.