When I was a non vegan, I was not arrogant, I was ignorant

When I was a non vegan, I was not arrogant, I was ignorant. I was ignorant of the fact that I was living in a totally speciesist way. I was unaware of the fact that I was contributing to an extreme form of violence by eating, wearing, and using animals for my own and my family’s entertainment. I was ignorant of the fact that, as I was lovingly settling my own babies to bed at night, nonhuman mothers were grieving for theirs, their babies who had been stolen from them by humans like me. When the reality of what I was doing hit home, I chose to answer the call and modify my way of living. I chose to begin to live in such a way that I would stop causing harm, wilfully and needlessly, to any other living beings, regardless of their specific characteristics. I became vegan. I believe the arrogance sets in when you are being informed of the needless suffering and deaths you are causing by not embracing a vegan way of living, and choose to continue being a part of the problem. You so affirm that your own pleasurable interests are more important than those of innocent creatures and that makes one an arrogant and self-centered human being.
~ Diane Dion (October 1, 2013)