1809:
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’, especially if it's too bizarre for them to
contemplate. 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, rather
as if I'm a smoke filled room and they're struggling to breathe some fresh air.
Once adjusted to the subject
of talking Animal Rights, there is some sort of understanding of the
unfamiliar. But I find that even the most friendly listener will usually slip
back into old habits after I’ve left; they never really intend to go along with
what I’m saying. People aren’t stupid. They value their life, their safety,
their lifestyle, their social life with friends, eating together and especially
not standing out like a sore thumb. Sure, there's an attraction in 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. So, I usually fall back
on one thing - that you will eventually see the value of one brave decision
over the easier status quo.
The most obvious
life-comforts might be: clothing, social links and 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'd want to disapprove of, then the value of good self
esteem might be too important to ignore. It comes down to what value we place
on having a clear conscience rather than a chronically guilty one.
Many people today do feel guilty
about a number of things they do. 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; being over fed
while so many are going hungry; having well appointed homes while so many are
without homes. 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. So, 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 our
imperfect selves. We can’t fix up one issue, like 'the environment', first before
addressing the next most-important issue. It surely 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, the necessary repairs can be carried
out simultaneously and incrementally.
All I would say is that to
totally ignore animal issues means we are certainly 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 ever more out of kilter, as if
we feel advanced in some ways but held back because of another. In this case,
one's inability to address animal issues or to change one's eating and clothing
habits according to our innermost principles.
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