What Veganism Taught Me About Influencing Change
I really love being vegan. It’s probably the personal choice I am most proud of. And like many other vegans, I am passionate as fuck about being vegan. In case you’ve never been on social media before, being a passionate as fuck vegan means:
- Barely being able to wait for your turn to talk in a conversation (any conversation will do) so you can “subtley” mention that you are vegan
- Eating 10+ bananas throughout the day in public so your friends or co-workers ask you what you are doing so you can drop some vegan knowledge on them
- Going to a restaurant and having a total freakout when they have “vegan friendly” items and then ordering all of them to post an epic vegan pic on IG and tagging the post with #veganAF
- Jumping out of bed each day with ridiculous energy and letting everyone you see know just how hype you feel without even any caffeine
If you are vegan — you can relate! Jokes aside though, being vegan means far more to me now. It means opening my eyes, my mind, and my heart to see the world through a different lens. It means having a genuine respect for this beautiful planet I call home. It means having endless compassion for the innocent creatures I share this earth with. And it means treating all people with that exact same respect and compassion.
What is does not mean is alienating others who haven’t made the same choices I’ve made at the same time in life that I’ve made them. This applies to any topic really but I see it so much around veganism on social media. The judgment and criticism people cast so freely towards each other now is insanely counter productive to what their intent likely is. I truly admire passion and intensity around a cause. It can move mountains. But it can also be highly repulsive if misguided. You simply cannot promote an inclusive movement by using a barrage of exclusive judgement and shaming.
Take me as an example. Not too long ago, I was very un-vegan. I only tried it out after binge watching documentaries with friends and being challenged to try eating vegan for a few days. Back then I never even realized it had anything to do with animals or the planet. Seriously. I just didn’t know better than to think it was about health and well being. It wasn’t until I met people who nourished my mind with enlightenment and perspective that I was able to make the real connection about what being vegan actually means. If these good people would’ve instead wrote me off because I wasn’t a “real vegan” yet, then I would have never made the connection.
So, what has being vegan taught me about influencing change? It taught me that our potential to effectuate the change we want in this world only becomes possible when we learn to empathize with others and see the world through their eyes.
It’s that simple.
