2025:
We all use force. We use it
to drive in a screw, we use it to stop the kids screaming all day. But force
can be used unjustifiably. Whatever the circumstances, force is always ugly and
ineffective. However deserving the animal cause is, we can’t afford to be
‘pushy’, not over something people aren’t yet fully aware of. To most people
using animals is still ‘acceptable’. What we say to them about that, however
well we put it, will always sound pushy. People don’t feel an obligation to
listen, let alone agree. In our protest against animal cruelty we want to be
seen as confident and determined, but nothing is achieved if we end up losing
the audience.
On this subject of animals having rights, we want others to
know about it. But being forceful and making people feel uncomfortable and
taking the moral high ground, well, it’s a bit ‘yesterday’.
Whatever the reasoning behind
using force, somehow the more reasoning approach comes across as more genuine.
We have to find ways of stopping people running away as soon as they know we’re
vegan.
Here’s a thought – if we poke
fun at ourselves there’s a sense of relief on people’s faces when we start
talking. It’s difficult to describe a
whole manner, and each of us is different in our style. But perhaps it’s our
gentleness of approach which is picked up before we even open our mouths. There’s
something in this notion of ‘vegan harmlessness’ which has a nice ring to it
and we need to be living examples of just that. Maybe it can be cheeky but it
never has to be pushy and certainly never offensive.