I recently returned home from teaching on the eighth annual Taste of Health Holistic Holiday at Sea cruise to the Caribbean, which mixed warm, sunny days; white, sandy beaches; chilled-out ports of call; gourmet vegan food with a macrobiotic bent to it; and informative classes, lectures and workshops with some of the greatest, most innovative and gifted experts in the fields of natural health and green living.
It was a magical week. Sandy Pukel, the visionary behind this idea, and John Belleme, the detail man of the vision, managed once again to put together a smoothly run, perfectly delightful week of stimulating classes, discussions and fun, social events. My own classes were packed, and the response to what I do and say was well-received. Vegans and people who live a macrobiotic lifestyle got along like peas in a pod.
Until the very last day.
Conducting a Q-and-A session with Sandy brought some incredibly interesting topics to the table for discussion, from personal responsibility to what foods to choose for health. It was a lively and interesting discussion. A woman asked about the difference between a macrobiotic and vegan diet. I explained that, for me, as a vegan, macrobiotics helped me find nutritional balance, but that macrobiotics was not always vegan, that animal food was sometimes used to create health in people who are compromised. I explained that most people who live a macrobiotic lifestyle are vegan, but some choose fish because they feel it makes them healthier and stronger. I also explained that, for me, macrobiotics made more sense because a vegan diet was not always healthy. As I always say, Twizzlers are vegan.
An attendee in the back of the room asked more about this topic, but because we were short on time, I invited him to speak with me after the class.
Do you know the term "in your face"? This dude was so in-my-face that I thought he might hit me (but would he do it compassionately?). With nostrils flared, he accused me of embracing a lifestyle that condoned pain, suffering and ultimately murder by living according to macrobiotic principles. It mattered not one bit that I am a vegan by my choice. What mattered was his agenda.
Now this blog is not about my hurt feelings or this unnerving confrontation. It's not about this man's misplaced and inappropriate rage.
It's about compassion.
In macrobiotics, we say that by living according to the laws of nature, we are choosing to create a bigger life, one steeped in ancient wisdom, tradition and freedom of choice. Let me say that again: freedom of choice. We also say that we choose foods based on their nutrition and energetic qualities. We believe that there's more to food than food and that in life, we are connected; we are all one.
As a committed vegan, I am deeply concerned about the way we treat our animals, and about how we produce them for food. If we think for one moment that farming and producing meat, poultry and dairy products that take the lives of more than 10 billion animals annually can be done in a compassionate, healthy and humane way, then we are more out of touch with reality than I feared. I also believe that there is no reason for me to eat animal food. That is my choice.
But I also care deeply for human health. As vegans or macrobiotic people who say that we are committed to health -- human health, planetary health and spiritual health -- how can we justify reserving all our compassion for animals and serving up only contempt and rage for people who might make choices different from ours? How can we hope to enlighten people and help them see our view when we are constantly blinding them with our shaking fingers in their faces? How can we hope to achieve harmony when we care only for the welfare of some animals and not for the welfare of others (humans, for example)?
Most vegans tell me that I am not "vegan enough" for their taste because I refuse to berate people who choose to eat animal foods; I don't protest with violence; I don't feel contempt for anyone not playing in my sandbox. As distasteful as that choice is to me personally, I am not so arrogant to think that I am constantly and consistently right -- and self-righteous.
I prefer the philosophy of catching more bees with honey (pun intended). If we are peaceful, inviting, open and welcoming to all we meet, do we not stand a much better chance of them hearing what we have to say and thereby effecting greater change? Seriously, who wants to be scolded? It's exhausting to be so self-righteous, for us and those who must endure us.
You cannot create an environment that includes all people when you call them "murderers" or "flesh-eaters" because they choose to eat meat or fish or dairy. Very few of us were born into a vegan lifestyle. We had to evolve. The highest calling of a human being is to help fellow humans to enlightenment. That is hardly possible when we are calling them names and yelling.
It's time for all those who live compassionate lives to show our fellow humans the same compassion we vegans show to cows, pigs, chickens, fish, puppies and kittens. Compassion opens the door for understanding and with understanding people can -- and will -- make better choices. But they can't -- and won't -- if they are constantly under attack, made to feel that they are inferior to more "enlightened" types and left feeling that they are less than worthless.
Compassion is not selective; rage is destructive no matter the cause or mission. Only with love and understanding can this world change for the better.
The time for "them-and-us" thinking is over. There is only "us": one world, one people, for better or worse; we are in this together.
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No matter what the topic, they are ready to go off! Compassion for one another is a wonderful virtue.
Alex Jamieson
On a more serious note, evidence from the science community is mounting that, like animals, plants are also capable of feeling pain, thinking, and defending themselves. I suggest "The Lost Language of Plants" by Buhner and "The Secret Life of Plants" by Tompkins and Bird. Plants are capable of communicating with each other, defending themselves with toxins made to order, and remembering which animals hurt them, including humans.
Plants can think and remember:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10598926
Plants recognize their relatives and form communities:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8076000/8076875.stm
Plants can fake illness to deter predators:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1708770/first_discovery_of_plant_that_fakes_illness/index.html
Plants have learned to manipulate behavior of insects for self-protection:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8383577.stm
Plants can also manipulate behavior of insects to insure reproduction:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8632814.stm
With respect to eating plans, nature fortunately provided us with one that respects the ethical treatment of both plants and animals. A description and references regarding what nature, not individuals, evolved humans to eat can be found in "The Original Diet."
Roy Mankovitz, Director
http://www.MontecitoWellness.com
A research organization
Moreover, it takes vastly more plants to feed animals and produce calories from meat than it would if humans simply ate those plants themselves -- by eating animal products, you're actually complicit in the suffering and death of more plants than you would be as a vegan.
I won't deny that individual vegans (and even organizations) can be strident and off-putting, but that doesn't negate the validity of many of their points. The simple fact is that if you care about minimizing human and animal suffering, veganism is an option worth considering. If vegans should strive to be cool-headed and compassionate, omnivores should also avoid letting anecdotes and bad personal experiences with vegans dissuade them from considering the evidence that's available.
Btw, I, and many of the omnis in this discussion have considered the vegan option. Many of us were vegetarian or vegan and decided that it was not the right path, after considering the evidence available.
Thank you for your very insightful comments about veganism and macrobiotics. I follow a vegan diet. However, I have learned much from macrobiotics.
Last year, Dr. Joel Furhman made some negative comments about macrobiotics and was not invited back. Are we so insecure about our choices that we can not bear to hear someone else's point of view ? Allan Wood
I'm glad to see this up here, but I doubt you'll get too much support. I think too many vegans live for the us vs them way of life. Just like any other philosophy(?) that purports to be the be all, end all answer, veganism attracts some who need that sense of righteousness. I see the same kind of attitude in the religion section.
The confrontational sorts really do a lot more harm - even to their own cause - than good. They give rise to jokes like: "PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, except for the animal known as homo sapiens".
John Keats wrote that "we hate poetry that has a palpable design on us", and I think that extends well beyond the realm of literature. Part of the reason even relatively non-confrontational vegans face resentment sometimes is the doublespeak involved in judging someone while simultaneously claiming that you're not.
fact that vegans can be somewhat confrontational. I have to
laugh, however, when the author states that evolving means
choosing the vegan lifestyle as if we poor omnivores are
stumbling around, dragging our knuckles in the dirt. The big
picture, health and the environment, is so much more complex
than most vegans will admit to and while the author concedes
that animal products can be necessary for health, it is simply
not true that a completely vegan lifestyle will save the earth.
I have never, even when eating vegan, made people who don't feel bad. That's my point.
Imagine yourself...(you) were on a cruise which had as it's theme not macrobiotics or green living but rather about the joys of eating animals of nearly every kind. (This might just be your average cruise I don't know). Now this particular cruise though advertised and celebrated as it's main philosophy...
"The freedom of never being told who you could or who you couldn't eat".
Now, imagine the reaction of some of these folks attending this event at sea if you were to mention how going and living vegan would be a kinder and much less violent way of living ones life. Imagine the reaction from these passengers if you used the word compassion in regard to pigs, chickens or cows.
It would be a bit like mentioning gun control at an NRA rally or saying the name Obama at a Klan meeting or suggesting health care for the poor at a Tea Party convention. The reaction you would receive would be a bit more than one guy getting in your face. I don't believe you've actually experienced real rage or intense anger until you mention going vegan for compassionate reasons around a group of libertarian/conservative meat eaters.
Please update us on your experience after you try this.
I believe there is a ranchers and cattlemans association cruise leaving soon...bon voyage/appetit!
Compassionately,
Philip
"Whenever you eat or prepare food be aware of what has been given. Rather leave the war off the table. May we be grateful for what we have received and allow those who we perceive as different from us to eat what they choose. After all, they are living beings too."
You can read the full post here: http://veggie.buntch.net/ending-the-food-fight/
Just Youtube "Meet Your Meat" or "Earthlings food" for a bit of understanding and compassion for what that gentlemen may have just experienced recently in his life.
However, I do agree with you 100 percent on having compassion toward those humans who may not even care about animals and will continue to eat them no matter what and also for having compassion for those people who have not yet been enlightened to veganism but are about to be awakened. However, I also do have an understanding and yes a lot of compassion for the humans who can't yet control their emotions when it involves the unnecessary reasons that animals are being turned into food. I was that animal loving person and it took me nearly 10 years to calm down when I advocate not exploiting animals for their flesh or fluids. It's easy...Go vegan!
This is the reality: It doesn't matter if you think it's "natural" to eat animals and you want to raise animals humanely. Why? Because it's no longer possible. It might have been possible long ago when both the human population was smaller and so were human appetites for meat. But these days, it's simply not possible.
The only logical, sustainable solutions to both the environmental problems and the animal welfare problems created by animal agribusiness are either:
- Almost everyone goes vegan, or
- Everyone goes almost vegan.
That means that anyone who seriously advocates environmentally-friendly, humanely produced animal products ought to also advocate veganism. It's just that simple.
For more information, please read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.
And right now, please watch: http://meatvideo.com/ and http://veganvideo.org/