Thursday 17 May 2018

Pushy Vegans

I would like to share something with you, particularly with those of you who have a dislike of pushy vegans trying to force their views onto you...

Three years ago, I experienced something of an awakening. I had lived most of my 37 years as someone who ate a lot of meat and dairy, and although I didn't always feel comfortable with the way we produce and consume these products, the idea of becoming vegetarian, let alone vegan, seemed impractical to me for many reasons; career choice, my love of food, cultural influence. I respected those who chose to avoid animal products, but it was hard to imagine ever doing it myself!

Until, one Sunday morning, when I had something of an epiphany... An enlightenment. It was one of those profound moments, where everything comes together at an exact point in time to completely change your perspective; and I saw, for the first time, the full horror of what I had been supporting. Guilt poured out of me in floods of tears, and in an instant, something which had always seemed impossible was suddenly made simple and easy.

“Awareness is the greatest agent for change.” Eckhart Tolle

I can’t take credit for that. It was just an experience which presented itself to me at that time in my life.
It was a wonderful and life changing moment! It brought me so much peace and joy. A weight I never even knew I had been carrying was lifted, and I felt lighter, more in tune with my soul.

The thing about positive experiences are that we want to share them with those around us. And here is where I learnt a hard lesson, I hope I can share my perspective with you in order to bridge a divide of misunderstanding...


"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example." Mark Twain

You see, this wonderful, amazing thing happened to me, and naturally I wanted to shout about it from the rooftops, to tell the people I loved; and more than that, I wanted them to experience it too!
So I'm sure you can imagine my shock and disappointment when those people reacted with anger, ridicule and defensiveness... I simply could not understand it. These were people I had known and loved all of my life and instead of embracing my wonderful experience they seemed to be angry with me, I was bewildered!

Over time I have come to understand, that this was not an experience I could share with everyone.
I now have the advantage of experiencing life as both a vegan and as a non vegan. There is no way I can judge or criticise others for their consumption of animal products, just because I was blessed to have had the gift that I had.


"Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment."    Lao Tzu

There are, unfortunately many vegans who lose sight of that and allow themselves to react emotionally and aggressively, and there were times I wanted to distance myself from the vegan label. But there is another side to it too; when you become aware, when you choose to look and see the full horror of unnecessary suffering that we humans mercilessly inflict upon the animal kingdom, you feel compelled to make it stop. In this case, if ignorance is bliss... knowledge is almost intolerable!

What I want to communicate here, is that when I may have seemed to be pushing my views onto others, what may have felt like criticism or judgement was simply me; the same me that once consumed animal products, just like you, wanting to share my positive experience.
I learned the hard way that it's not so easy. But understand, it came from a place of love.

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