Telling it as I see it

46.

How do I, as a vegan, see things?  I see the bubbling violence in people, the ugly food they eat, the things done to animals in their name. I find it’s sometimes hard to eat with people or mix with them socially - no wonder I seem to others like a social pariah. But there’s an up-side for me. If this is the reality, it’s sad, but at least it builds up my will power, especially when I ask myself if I’m strong enough to say “no” when I’d rather say “yes”. I’ve often been surprised to find that, when I overcome taste pleasures and food addictions, I discover it’s not as hard as I thought it would be.

            But however convinced I might be, if I try to tell this to people, I know they’ll never believe me till they try to do it themselves. And they must want to try and want to be convinced that a vegan lifestyle will be liberating, and could even bring them happiness.           

Why believe me when I say, “Veganism leads to our being happy” ? It’s actually not quite true, because I must also say, “But what right do I have to be happy while so many animals languish in cages?” Becoming a vegan isn’t just about my feeling good and warm inside, no, it’s just as much about social justice. If I feel unhappy within myself it’s not because I resent missing out on all the goodies on offer but because I’m sad for what’s happening. I know nothing can change for the animals until something changes in humans. That makes me sad, and I’m particularly sad about how slowly things are changing.

            Animal suffering gets worse. The planet dies one more little death every time another human procrastinates. All the while, I’m wondering why people are so blind to the crime of exploiting animals and can’t see animal slavery for what it is; I don’t know why they sponsor the machines of murder, pollution and misinformation. It makes me furious.

            If vegans seem to get cranky with people, it isn’t because they want to offend people or lose all their friends, it’s because we can’t condone the drone mentality. But my whinge takes me nowhere. My attention should be on how to talk. To talk from the heart. To talk so that even kids can understand and adults are not embarrassed by understanding, that whenever we buy anything from animal sources we support an attack on them. There must be a way through to people’s hearts, but it isn’t obvious, especially when the habit of animal-eating is nothing short of ubiquitous.