Hello Friends and Family,

Nostalgia – 1: the state of being homesick: homesickness; 2: a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition

The holidays are coming again. Another year will be gone soon. That good old feeling of yesterday is flooding me again. It’s that joyful feeling of blissful ignorance.

All my life I was a carnivore. I ate all kinds of meats, even some most people wouldn’t think to eat. Although I never knowingly ate dog, cat or monkey…it may have been given to me as a child and I just gleefully ate it anyway. Where I grew up, our neighbor across the street raised piglets. They would come around asking for scraps to feed their pigs. My heart would always go out to the pigs squealing as the truck came by to take them to slaughter. But I still ate lechon (roast pork). My aunt and uncle owned a farm with chickens and one duck. I became friends with the duck because there was no other. We played together and he followed me around wherever I went. On our last day visiting, my aunt served the duck for dinner. I cried and refused to eat my friend. But I still ate other ducks anyway. My blinders were on tight and I wasn’t going anywhere but where I was told, straight ahead, no turning.

Five years ago, one of my blinders came loose. I saw the horror that is animal agriculture. (Watch any Mercy for Animals videos on YouTube) I went vegetarian. A year later, I saw the horror of the dairy and egg industry, I went semi-vegan, still hanging on to Cadbury bars. On January 5, 2015 (1/5/15), I went full-fledged vegan and I never went back.

During the holidays, I feel attacked as a vegan. Turkeys, hams, stuffed hens, pork loins, lechon and cheese balls are all over the place: stores, ads, the dinner table. Sometimes I wish I still have my blinders on. Since they came off, I can’t very well put them back on again. I remember the taste of meat and there are times I crave it. But my better self sees the torment the animal went through before laying dead in front of me. I hear their cries; I see their tears; I feel their pain, fear and sorrow. I see them for who they were before they were “meat”.

Sometimes I envy those who still have their blinders on. They have no care in the world – literally! Then I watch vegan children educating adults on the cruelty of meat and my heart bursts with joy and full of hope for the world.

It’s my birthday. My only wish on my birthday and Christmas is that you all try going vegan for many reasons: your health, the animals, the planet!

I’d like for you to take the challenge: www.challenge22.com.

It’s not much to ask and it won’t cost you a cent. The animals and the planet need you. Your body needs you. Please take the challenge.

Much love!