The profoundest of changes

940: 

Since most of us aren’t in the military we aren’t used to being ordered around.  We react badly when someone tells us what to do,  our immediate reaction being,  “Get lost. I don’t need to listen to you. I’ve got rights too, not to be pushed around”.  Orders sometimes comes nicely packaged as uncalled for advice;  we can react just as badly to that.  “I don’t want your advice when it’s not called for”.  But, if someone is bold enough to bring something to our attention (“you’re wearing your shirt inside-out”) it’s a different sort of comment,  not necessarily a criticism,  it’s just meant to be helpful,  and would be taken as such.

It all comes down to how we ‘take’ things – positively or negatively.  If I accept advice or even just listen to it,  I’m effectively saying that I still have something to learn ... that is,  until we hit the animal-food subject.  This is where most of us have firm ideas which are not open to outside interference.

All I can do is put my case in as many ways as I can think of,  hoping something will stick.  So,  here is how it seems to me:

If I start to talk about Animal Rights,  my comments aren’t inconsequential,  because they pertain to what is perhaps the most entrenched,  and in my opinion a most dangerous,  daily habit - one’s use of animal-based food.  But it’s bigger than food.  It’s the spin-offs.  It’s about animals,  but then it leads on to ethics,  health,  brainwashing,  courage, life’s purpose,  consistency of belief,  social isolation – and all this stems from the food we eat.

What I decide to do about it doesn’t only affect me.  Being vegan isn’t only for my own immediate benefit.  It is about defending animals’ rights,  and it comes down to this:  either we do as others do or we act differently to almost everyone else we know;  some are unwilling to inconvenience themselves, others are more altruistically-driven.