I attend a university, but my lessons come from all aspects of my surroundings, not just the classroom. My teachers come in a variety of species, each with wisdom to impart on my permeable brain.
The beginning of my learning journey began with professors; they provided me with an array of literature and facts, historical or fictional, impactful or otherwise. With such an expansive amount of information tossed in my direction, I began to develop a system for what I allowed to remain and flourish in my mind. I used my empathy. Though it made me a bona fide failure at mathematics and certain sciences, using empathy to decide what holds importance and worth led me to becoming vegan.
This method originated when a professor provided me with literature pertaining to the sympathetic imagination. My heart told me this was worth remembering, while the “rational brain” of others told them it was idealistic nonsense. And just like that, using my empathy led me down a path of eye-opening understanding.
Learning to place myself in the being of another was both painful and enlightening. I was taught to understand and truly feel what the other was experiencing. Unfortunately, this meant the agonizing pain and suffering numerous species endure, all at the hand of humans’ greed. And thus, this lesson led to a new one; I came to acknowledge all forms of life and give them equal importance, rather than putting the human species above the rest.
As my intellectual journey continued, I found myself gaining insight in the most unexpected of places; from the birds that traveled above me, the ants that crawled below me, my loving dogs that lay beside me. They became my new teachers, showing me the power of endurance, strength and the ability to truly love another. I continue to learn from them lessons that no human can convey into words.
Special thanks to Butterflies Katz for including this in her compelling essay collection highlighting diversity amongst vegans:
I’M A VEGAN: One Movement, Many Voices.
