Vegan - start

If we decide to do something, to protest, to speak out, to become vegan, the first thing we’ll notice is the effect on our own self esteem. It receives an immediate boost, and obviously that feels good. Going vegan might be something we feel so strongly about that we display it, in the belief that others will notice it in us and want to do likewise. But no, it isn’t necessarily true that if we feel it that they will - if only it were as simple as that. We have to be content with travelling alone, more or less alone anyway. Just becoming vegan is all we can do at first - do it, then start to show it and patiently wait for others to follow suit.
Direct action is effective for rescuing animals from factory farms but there’s no direct action we can carry out on people’s minds. All we can do is to try to convince people of the benefits of making a personal choice and then letting them come around in their own time.
The reason why vegan thinking and vegan eating and vegan clothing are such a break through in human evolution is that we’ve discovered an alternative way of physically surviving. And those who have tried vegan diets know this to be true. We’ve found an improvement in health and well being, that is after being vegan for a while. At first though these experiments may have a few glitches. Our body needs to readjust and, on a social level, our relationships need time to acclimatise. We need to work on various levels simultaneously, until things are running smoothly. It isn’t immediate and it isn’t a complete panacea. It doesn’t necessarily bring us closer to people and it doesn’t immediately open up a strong sense of love or non-separation, but it does install a measure of non-violence into our lives. What we do about animals, and they way we steer clear of animal products, keeps us clear of the nastier side of our nature.