The KInd Life Community Forum

Ironically, I found this dated the date of my question. Never got a response, but just in case anyone else ever feels down about what's happening out there, this story was helpful. After listening, I gave myself permission to let go once in a while, and then start plugging along in the fight against cruelty...

http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201006045

Laurabel, I just wanted to let you know that I understand how you feel. I've been a vegan for eight years but was always very quiet about it and never felt offended by anyone elses choices. While I am still very quiet, a few months ago I found myself getting upset for the first time in my life about the unkind choices people make with regards to animals. It wasn't just the diet issue, because I'd feel just as angry when I saw ads for unwanted pets, or when I'd read an article about canned hunts, or really anything that demonstrated how cruel and thoughtless people can be. It sometimes seems like it is we humans who are the true animals!

I'd like to believe, however, that people are changing. Just finding this forum was very heartening, and when I read the book, it was like reading my own personal story - I was not alone after all, and that gave me hope.

The human race has overcome many hurdles and maybe someday in the future people will look back and be shocked that we treated sentient creatures with such horrible disregard. Perhaps the worst of us will have the misfortune of coming back as a battery hen!

Take care,

Beary

Laurabel, it is true that the anger isn't doing us any good, and I want to move past it. I think women are especially uncomfortable dealing with anger. Its funny that you mention it, but the thing that started this 'anger phase' I'm in was dealing with a group of very combative meat eaters who were obviously offended by my diet. I truly felt very indignant - how dare they attack me for a personal decision that is based in compassion when I had never so much as shared my veganism let alone been "preachy" about it. I became very discouraged by the anti-vegan sentiment that I was encountering.

When I first became vegan I didn't even know there was a word for it, it just felt like the only way I could live with myself. Now it seems, the average person has encountered the concept of veganism and they have gone on the offensive trying to prove that it is an irrational, dangerous mental disorder that will literally destroy life as we know it! It would actually be funny if it weren't so disheartening. It broke my heart when someone actually said they were going to eat more meat to make up for the animals I was saving. Then they said that I was probably so happy and peaceful all of the time because I was suffering from nutrient deficiencies that cause euphoria, and that it was good that I didn't have children of my own, because veganism is a form of child abuse.

Thanks for listening. You just can't reason with that type of person!

Hang in there, I read today that a vegetarian diet saves 100 animals a year! As my friend's new-agey mother says: be the change you want to see in the world!

Be the change you want to see in the world was actually said by Gandhi ;))))))))

I agree, it gets so hard some days to watch other people live the way they live. Just last night at a family dinner my sister and her boyfriend were laughing about when they were fishing, and had caught a bunch of fish (to eat), and were having trouble killing this one catfish in particular. She went on and on about how they stabbed it in the head, but it kept moving, then cut off his head, but he kept moving, etc. About made me sick. How can people be so cruel? A fish is still a living creature, just like us! I kept my mouth shut though, b/c to say anything would only instigate a heated argument, which I wasn't ready for.

How do I keep it up though? I remember the Starfish Story. "I made a difference to that one." Every time I pick up a plastic bottle someone leaves in the park, to carry all the way home to recycle, instead of just throwing it in the trash, I think "I made a difference to that one." I know I can't recycle EVERYTHING, and lots of people still throw everything in the trash, which kills me when I think about it. Same with what they eat. Killing any animal just for your consumption.... I know it goes on, but the only thing any of us can control is ourselves. When we, as individuals, choose to not buy that animal product, we can take pride in "making a difference to that one." That's one less chicken that will die, for example.

Summary of the Starfish Story for those who don't know: "A boy/girl was walking along a beach with thousands of starfish washed up from the high tide. One by one, he was throwing them back in the ocean. A man walked up and said to the boy, 'There are thousands of starfish on this beach alone. There's no way you can save them all.' The boy reached down, picked up another starfish, threw it in the ocean, then looked up at the man and said, 'I made a difference to that one.'"