984:
In practical terms, of course, empathy is modified by the
inconvenience it causes. If you
empathise with animals you have to suffer the inconvenience of never using
anything made with animal products. And
then, to speak to others about this, might make you seem to be too righteous
for your own good. So, there are traps
and obstacles for the enthusiastic vegan.
I’ve got a list of don’ts to start this off: I need to avoid
the temptation to harangue people, or to trap them into agreeing with me. It’s too obvious and clumsy to simply hit
people over the head with ‘veganism’. Even
if they want to agree with me, give me encouragement, make me think I’ve got
through to them, they may be simply trying to shut me up. I find the most friendly listener will usually
slip back into old habits after I’ve left; they never really intended to go
along with what I’d been saying. People
aren’t stupid. They value their life,
their safety, their lifestyle, their social life with friends, eating together,
not standing out like a sore thumb, being individual but not too much so. Becoming vegan is a big step.
I’m not trying to guild the lily. I know I mustn’t hold back on the many
personal and practical implications of being vegan. For you to be swapping to a new normality is a
great leap away from the security you’ve always known.
I fall back on one thing - that the cushion we need can be
comfortable but supportive. I rely on the
fact that you will eventually see the value of one comfort over another. The most obvious life-comforts might be: clothing,
social links, taste in food. But a
bigger comfort involves self esteem, and if that is being eroded by the guilt
of being involved in a system we disapprove of, it might be too important to
ignore.
It comes down to what value we place on having a clear
conscience instead of a guilty conscience. I recognise how guilty people are feeling about
a number of things. One example: giving
support and encouragement to those who pollute the environment; most of us want
to ‘do something about it’, so we recycle, we buy ‘green’, we conserve energy. And of course there is more guilt elsewhere. If you feel overwhelmed by guilt, perhaps you
won’t want to add more to the mix, by being involved with the exploiting of animals.
You try to ignore this one.
I would suggest that this is the next layer of guilt to
be stripped away, to feel better about ourselves. We can’t fix up one issue, e.g. the
environment, before addressing the next most-important issue. It doesn’t work that way. Instead, by gradually raising awareness of
each issue, and seeing how it affects our own lives and the planet’s, repair is
carried out on a number of fronts, simultaneously and incrementally.
All I would say is that to totally ignore animal issues
means we are afraid of addressing this subject. Ignoring it won’t make it go away. If anything, the daily involvement in the
exploitation of animals will make us feel out of kilter; it’s as if we feel advanced
in one way and retarded in another.
If you know any ‘enlightened’ people, try asking them what
they eat. You’re likely to see before
you an imbalanced person.
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