Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Idealism goes a long way


1315: 

If our main aim is to get people to listen we must first ask - why would they WANT to?  Perhaps they'll be intrigued by our different angle on things.  On this subject of food and animals, maybe they want the sort of information they’d normally never get to hear about.  At first, we might not know what their real interest is.  We must be prepared to cater for whatever they want and be prepared to back off from anything they show they don't want to hear about.  It's always their call.

Let's say I am talking with a friend, and they know I’m vegan, they know I’m pro-animal and anti-abattoir.  They might even know why I include milk and egg products on my prohibited list. If all this is NOT unacceptable to them, they might, nevertheless, be expecting the Ten Commandments from me.  So instead, I'll try to mention all the attractive reasons for being vegan.

I’ll try to paint a picture of a non-violent future, a different attitude to animals which could bring about a shift in human nature.  And I’ll attempt to link that to food choices, clothing and commodity choices, all of which for vegans are choices directly connected to harmlessness.  I’ll talk about a world without a slave trade in animals or abattoirs or animal farms.  And my aim would be to ultimately show that this ideal-world isn’t unattainable.  As soon as we start to develop empathy and altruism we automatically drop violence, selfishness and the main self-destructions.


Without any hint of fear-mongering, I would prefer to speak optimistically, and imagine how normal and natural it is to become more mature as human beings.  The harmlessness principle not only brings us personal health and happiness but it allows us to walk the earth without a nagging sense of guilt.  It allows us to breathe easily.

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