Buying cruelty-free items

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If you’ve ever felt at peace with pigs and cows, you’ve probably felt ashamed on behalf of your fellow humans.  At least vegans feel no personal shame, so that when we see a beautiful hen pecking on the ground we don’t have to feel guilty - we aren’t going to steal her eggs or eat her.  We’re probably going to feel angry that people still have such animals on their dinner plates.

One can’t take on the guilt of others nor dismiss the whole of humanity or get angry with all our friends, but we can put forward some suggestions - to do some cruelty-free shopping, because this is where it all starts.

By way of incremental change, we may suggest they step away from animal produce; make one small gesture each day, make the gradual transition.  That sounds reasonable enough, but how do we go about suggesting this?

Perhaps we make it seem like an attractive thing to do.  We can try to reach people’s hearts, appeal to their higher instincts, let them feel the change happening.  We can encourage people to see for themselves that this new change of direction is ultimately attractive, on its own account.

If we can talk through the issues without coming on too strong or going on about it too long, it will be obvious that we’re not out to convert.  We just want them to make up their own minds, let them come to their own conclusions, and be their own judge and jury.