Availability, voluntary refusal and personal ambition

19.

Slowly we are moving forward in our awareness of animals, the part they play in our everyday life, how we humans exploit them, and how much we like the end-products of the Animal Industries. Many reforms are being made but we are still a ‘million miles’ from addressing the whole problem. We need to see why we like the idea of something like non-violence but don’t want it badly enough to put ourselves out about it. We need to get to the root of why we want something noble but aren’t disciplined enough to bring it about. There are many analogies. We want peace but can’t abandon nuclear weapons. We want a safe climate but want lots of electricity to support our lifestyle. We want paper but don’t want to fell trees. Is there another element muddying the waters? If we look at ourselves, as animal activists, are we fighting for the rights of animals but still need reward for our hard work? Do we have ambitions to be at the forefront of the next great social revolution? If so, are we sure we won’t tread on each others’ toes in our race for personal recognition? Can we be sure that our motives for being animal advocates will remain true? In other words, will we be able to keep enough integrity to carry us through the lean years to come, before this great attitudinal ship can be turned around? Any one of us, vegan or non-vegan, might have high ideals but can we carry them through into practice, until they become just good habits? Or will we be stymied by our need to show off and look more advanced that we are?