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Vegans try to mop up some of the damage they see about them.
They try to dig everyone out of their ruts. But try as they might, they’re
seldom trusted enough to be listened to. They’re seen as killjoys or they’re
thought to be ridiculous or at least unrealistic. Be that as it may, as a
vegan, I like to think that we aren’t so easily put off.
We so much
want to let people reach their potential, to stay out of trouble, and of course
to save the animals, that we say what we have to say, regardless. But most of
all, we want others to start to believe in their own ability to change. It’s
because vegans have been through this type of change themselves that they want
others to try it. A good enough intention. So, what goes wrong? I suspect it’s
concreted mind-set, obstinacy and lack of imagination.
I’d suggest
that the rot sets in early in our lives, when all the attractions seduce us and
we chase after them fearlessly, with all the best intentions. We do search for
lifestyle improvements. We do search for self-improvement, and we achieve lots
but it’s not comprehensive. It’s inconsistent. In certain areas it’s the disappointments
that undermine personal confidence to make necessary changes. The most
corrosive beliefs bring us to believe that no good will come from any
life-changing decisions we make. Perhaps that’s why we reject ‘solutions’
because they seem unlikely to do us any good. Is this why we avoid seeing the
value of adopting such ideas as vegan principle, when on paper they are rather
hard to deny?
The short term logic might follow
this line: “Life’s hard enough as it is without some vegan person telling me
what I can and can’t eat, based on some animal-defending moral principle”. And
then there’s doubt about the toxicity of animal-based foods, until one overall
attitude stops people considering the move away from what they are familiar
with. Which means they deny the sense of what vegans say and therefore avoid the
best opportunity that will ever come their way.
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