Getting satisfaction

So, here we have it, the battle between body and conscience. The battle goes on every day in our decision making. We project all the factors we can think of and then make our choice, usually in our own interest. Sometimes that choice is at the expense of animals. Could we call them ‘satisfaction decisions’ because they aren’t based on ethics?
In a subsistence environment we’d have hardly any choices to make, but in our world it’s different. We’re offered so many temptations that some things we do, and not done especially consciously, turn out to be mistakes. We follow others, we follow habits and we follow the autopilot. We prefer minimum thinking tasks. We do like to emphasis personal energy-conservation. We prefer doing things the easiest way possible.
Was it for that we humans were given such good brains? Now, as couch potatoes, it makes very little sense to stand up for things, and certainly not by getting too active against the majority viewpoint. Therefore we don’t question normal practice, and we don’t look at the rights and wrongs of things. We are true believers at the dinner table. We’re eager to follow … when the food tastes good. We do what we do unquestioningly, just as we’ve done for the whole of our lives. We segue into adulthood on the lubricated wheels of habit. We continue to do what we’ve been taught to do. And when that involves food most of us gladly roll over … if it tickles our fancy.
So, by questioning our community on such a grand scale, as vegans do, we marginalise ourselves. We lose about 99% of our support base just by the way we look at food. But we go further. We seem to go to war with our own bodies. We alienate our taste-buds and every other food-experiencing sense too. Off-side with people, masochistically off-side with the body?
Ah but! All becomes clear when the great purpose of it all is purposely NOT hidden. It’s for the sake of the animals. This is what balances it all. This is the reason for taking such a bold step. And it might be a mixture of animal compassion, the future of our children and grandchildren, or just a cheaper food bill. Whatever the reason, it’s the kick-start outrage at how cruelty, irresponsibility and waste of money. It’s the misinformation and being misled by teachers, parents, doctors, VIPs, priests, rock stars, writers, academics – they don’t stand up in our eyes any longer and as vegans we need to make this clear.
So, we are misled by each and every leader (with notable exceptions). We’ve been led astray to such an extent that we might want to put that right before we do anything else. And the first step is to step away from the whole ugly mess. To disassociate … which brings us back to the animal question itself: excess animal abuse, vested interests, gullible consumers. Always, if in doubt about any of this, simply refer to conscience. It’s always the guide.