Trialling at home

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The omnivore, someone who isn’t concerned about any of the ethical provenance of the food they eat, will go about their routines, trying to make their own life more comfortable. In the kitchen or out shopping it’s food that’s being mainly thought about - food for the week. Even if we’ve just been listening to a most compelling radio discussion, say ‘a very interesting talk with a vegan’ and been impressed by their arguments … even if we’re currently unhappy about our own eating habits, the dominant concern is to not rock the boat in our own life. There’s enough going ‘on’ in our lives without taking-on this one too. Soon enough the omnivore in us, the same-as-everyone-else in us, will pull back to where we were before ... that is, before hearing that radio program. We’ll go back to the comfortable, to the familiar habits which give us our feeling of safety-in-numbers.

            Whatever a vegan’s best intention, it’s getting others to agree that counts, and then after that it’s a private matter, testing the strength of one’s agreement and commitment. Only time and trialling at home can help to get past the blocks.

These are the sorts of personal tests familiar to anyone who has been through a rehabilitation programme, facing the end of one regime and the adoption of a new one. If vegans try to force people to agree, there might be agreement for a while but it won’t last. 

            The only person who should know and be able to comment on what one is eating or using is oneself. If we vegans take on the responsibility of commenting and advising, we have to be ready to fail, at first. And then, not to panic and rush in with recriminations. At this very early stage of Animal Rights awareness, if we place any pressure at all on others, we’re bound to be roundly ignored. The weight of the collective consciousness shouldn’t be underestimated – an individual standing alone against the conventional lifestyle, diet and general attitude is still somewhat of a rarity.

            What we can do is to sow seeds; we can stir the dragon of conscience. And because there’s so much cynicism and suspicion around these days, no glib one-liners are going to do the trick. All new ideas and causes are suspect today, so vegans have to be different; we have to come in strong but pull back strongly as well; we have to be able to allow space for people to find their own way, be ready for them if they need help but not be over-advisory. It’s a delicate balance.