I am a split personality when it comes to being vegan, I am a thoroughly committed abolitionist. Id love to see an end to all exploitation of other living beings for human use, whether this is for food, clothes, entertainment, medicine, health, fashion - anything. I want this because I have reached the conviction that all animals deserve respect for who they are, irrespective of their value to human beings. I see that their lives are important to them, as mine is to me; to view them as here just to be my playthings and a resource for my use, as if they had no more feeling in them than a piece of driftwood, is arrogant speciesism. Whilst holding this belief, there is my practical side - the part of me that realises that most people arent even on the first dot at the top of the page I am on with this. The derisive term baby steps has been coined for the idea that you can arrive at being vegan in small steps. It has been compared to the ludicrous idea that you can be partly against rape and child molestation, that you can be partly against racism, just a little bit less homophobic. You get the idea. Framed like this, the notion that you may take months or years to go completely vegan, one small step at a time, does, on the face of it, seem absurd. Either you get it or you dont, right? And if you get it, why would you want to baby step your way to vegan living? If you get it, you realise that every moment you are not fully vegan, you are still adding to the problem of huge animal suffering. And then my reasonable side speaks up. It tells me that its not possible to expect such a huge leap of most people, today. They are not ready. Veganism comes at most of them from left field, and their first reaction is to resist and turn away. Its too different to what they are used to. The truths vegans are trying to share are too shocking to be looked at. The instinctive reaction is to protect oneself from hurt. So, whilst i agree with the abolitionist stance and long for that world where we dont ruthlessly exploit other beings for anything, and will keep on sharing my insights, I am also not going to mock baby steps. I see them as a regrettable but necessary link in the chain that will eventually lead to the 10% tipping point that will make veganism mainstream. I do believe that once people are actually on the path, thinking about veganism more, trying to create more plant based meals, they will inevitably pick up on the deeper ethic, especially with support from other, committed vegans. And then they will make the leap and become fully vegan. All the while we dither, of course animals are suffering and dying, and this is a huge sorrow to all vegans, and why many get frustrated with baby steps, but the animals are being helped by every person who does not buy their flesh or some product from the abuse of them, because what we buy affects what is created/made for sale and sends a message to the source. I did not become vegan overnight. Yet, here I am, 2 years on, as committed as anyone could be, regretting the past, but working for the future. I hope one day that everyone will eat like they care about something other than their own appetites and that humans will evolve into a kinder species.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 10:59:36 +0000
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