Vegans starting out

1136: 

When I decided to do something, to protest, to speak out, to become vegan, the first thing I noticed was that my own self esteem received a boost, and that felt good.  But then I thought others would notice my change and want to follow suit.  No way!!  Not that easy!  I’d have to be patient, while waiting for the penny to drop with others.

It seems that you can’t just go up to people and suggest they change.  Oh no. There’s no quick fix guarantee for shifting mind-sets.  It interests me that people seem to want to stay asleep over animal issues on the pretext of not wanting it to lead to vegetarian food restrictions.  And that thought is made darker by the fear of committing a long slow suicide-by-vegetable.  They’ll conveniently see it as a safety issue.

When any of us contemplate a vegan lifestyle we probably consider the obstacles - the mind prohibits taking such a radical step.  I kept asking if it was safe?  Those before me said it was, books said so, eminent doctors said it was safe with a few provisos which I took notice of.  Practising vegans read, talk, question, weigh up and conclude that the risk is worth taking.  Today it isn’t such a risk at all, since so many others have gone before and proved the ‘preposterous idea’ is not so preposterous at all.  In fact a vegan diet takes you to a different level of safety and health, and the abundance of energy makes it extra convincing and that much easier, to ‘go vegan’ without worry.

In the mid 1940's, when all this started, they were experimenting to find out if it were possible to physically survive on plants.  It sounded bizarre and dangerous at the time, but it turned out not to be so.  Things today are very different to what they were in 1943.  We’ve made great advances in understanding nutrition, and we have food choices which up until recently people didn’t have.

The reason why vegan thinking and vegan eating and vegan clothing is so important is that vegans are showing others that physical survival is possible without recourse to animals.  Those of us on vegan diets, for instance, have found remarkable improvements in health and well being.  And while vegan diets are not a complete panacea, by way of such a radical change in our food regime, we move one step ahead in self development.  But food, however good it is, won’t necessarily bring us any closer to improving our feelings for others, for loving them more or bringing us closer to non-separation from others.  But, it’s a start.  It does install the first plank of non-violence into my understanding of myself.  By avoiding all that nasty animal food, I’m avoiding the nastier side of my nature coming out.