The KInd Life Community Forum

i can't even count the number of times someone has started a sentence with that in these past few weeks. of course the holidays are focused on eating, so i've been making really simple vegan dishes and taking them to parties as my contribution. everyone has liked them so far! yay!

but what irks me is when people i don't know well, or are meeting me for the first time through a friend, start with this question. most recently, i got "are you one of those vegans who claim to care about animals but walk around in a leather jacket with a leather purse and leather shoes?" um.... did you see my cloth purse? you offered to take my non-leather jacket from me when i walked in and quite frankly you shouldn't be concerned with the textile content of my shoes. in the spirit of being nice i smiled and said, "my vegan journey is starting with food. and it takes time to completely change my lifestyle but i feel pretty great about it so far."

of course i took her comment to heart and got curious about the leather content of my shoes. sadly, most of my favorite shoes do have leather in them. looks like we'll be phasing out the shoes! i already took the 4 most offensively leather pairs and put them aside for a garage sale.

anyone else being accused of living a stereotype?

I was given a 3 month old nubuck leather couch and loveseat about 3 years ago. It is still in great shape and works well with our animals; cleans up nicely and the hair is easy to clean off.
Now, this is how I look at it. First, I did not go out and buy it. It was given to me by a neighbor who decided she liked something better. (We should all have that kind of disposable money)
The animals that it came from had already been sacrificed to make the furniture. I feel that it would be dishonoring their sacrifice to just toss it out and buy something else.
How do others feel about this?

People don't give others grace these days. It is a transition to be fully vegan because it is a lifestyle change. I don't think that people who aren't vegan understand or realize all that goes into this change. People are out to prove that you are wrong instead of supporting you even if they don't agree with the lifestyle. It is a shame and it makes me sad.

I am happy that you are all thinking about this topic too. It has been on my mind a lot. I have decided that I am going to enjoy things I already have like uggs, wool, down jackets ect but buy vegan versions when they wear out. I personally think it is much kinder not to contribute more to the mass consumerism of our nation by getting rid of perfectly good things I already have to buy new. I have not eaten or bought a single animal product in 4 months so that will have to be good for now. If people want to give me a difficult time for that then I see that as their problem. To each their own but this is what I decided is right for me!

Totally and completely in line with all of you! I feel that twinge of guilt when I am going grocery shopping for tofu and vegan parmesan wearing my oh so warm and comfortable Uggs. Unless I win the lottery, I will be phasing in more friendly replacements as my current items die off (no pun intended).