I went vegan for compassionate reasons. I didn't want to cause harm to animals -- sentient beings whom I respected and cared for. Donald Watson, founder of the British Vegan Society, invented the word "vegan" in 1944. At first the term only applied to food, but the Society extended the definition in 1951 to mean "the doctrine that man should live without exploiting animals." Watson lived to age 95. This vegan doctrine is one that I try to live my life by, if only imperfectly. If I can live happily and healthily without hurting an animal to the age of 95, why would I want to do otherwise?
When I transitioned to my now vegan lifestyle, I was under the impression that "making a mistake," such as consuming something that I was unaware had butter in it, meant that I had canceled out my veganism. I believed that unless I was a perfect vegan, I was not a vegan at all. Through the years that I've been living this lifestyle, I've become wary of anyone who claims perfect veganism. I can't speak for everyone, but I don't believe that there is a perfect vegan out there. That doesn't mean that I willfully eat animal products or intentionally wear makeup with carmine (derived from the bodies of bugs) in it, but I also don't let slip-ups cancel out my compassionate lifestyle.
I believe it is 100 percent possible to live a 100 percent vegan life. From what I've read in books (such as "The China Study" and "The Food Revolution"), watched in films (such as "Forks Over Knives") and experienced from interacting with other vegans, I believe that we can get all essential nutrients from plant-based foods. There is evidence that there is absolutely no requirement for the ingestion or use of any animal product in order for us to survive healthily and happily. It has been my experience that I don't need to consume animals in order to live optimally. The realities of my imperfect human life on this planet are usually what challenge my vegan lifestyle.
Try as I might, I am not a perfect vegan. Walking on the ground, I'm sure I've stepped on bugs. I am certain that in restaurants I have unknowingly eaten non-vegan ingredients that have been mixed into dishes I've ordered, thinking they were vegan. I have sat in cars with leather seats. When I had cancer, the chemotherapy that helped to save my life was tested on rats. There are a myriad of ways that we can be imperfect vegans. But that doesn't mean that the things we do to help the animals in striving for a vegan lifestyle are discounted. Everything we do to exclude animal products from our lifestyles helps the animals. And the best I can do is to consciously exclude as many animal products from my life as is within my control.
I've found that the very topic of imperfect veganism can strike fear in the heart of an otherwise secure vegan. For me this fear is generally of having my ethics concerning animals attacked as soon as I reveal this "vulnerability" of imperfection. And a fear of failing my fellow vegans. But I've also found that the vegans I respect most in this compassionate movement, those who have sustained a vegan lifestyle for a long time and who help others, will admit their vulnerability as imperfect.
The difference between veganism and other intentions in life is that veganism is, in fact, a life or death scenario. I don't want to eat meat because it is a dead body. I don't want to drink milk because a cow has needlessly suffered for it. I don't want to wear leather because I don't believe that it is fair for a cow to lose its life so I can put on a pair of fancy shoes (especially when there are so many wonderful vegan options). So my mistakes in living vegan aren't the same as having a typo in an important letter or jaywalking. Veganism is very important to me for these and other reasons, and I don't take my compassionate lifestyle lightly. However, until society has changed on a larger scale and nothing is produced with animal products, chances are I am going to be living imperfectly vegan. To invest energy in beating myself up over it, or attacking others for being imperfect vegans, wouldn't be helpful to anyone.
I consider being a vegan as similar to being a parent or a doctor in the sense that I am responsible for the lives of others through my actions and decisions. However, no doctor or parent is perfect. I reckon that most parents would admit to being imperfect. I will guess that many parents have yelled at their children even if they didn't believe it was the correct way to treat them. That doesn't mean that those parents should give up on striving to be good, kind and compassionate parents in every way possible. Just because I have had my mistakes as a vegan, does not mean that I give up my intention of living without causing harm to animals. I try to learn from my mistakes, acknowledge myself as imperfect and continue to do my best to live a vegan lifestyle.
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, a vegan hero of mine, author, and host of the "Vegetarian Food for Thought" podcast addresses possible vegan slip-ups in the chapter "Day 30: Keeping It in Perspective: Intention, Not Perfection" of her new book, "The 30-Day Vegan Challenge." She writes:
Because many people mistakenly believe that being vegan is about being perfect, they often accuse vegans of being hypocrites... All we can do is the best we can with the information we have at the time; as we grow and learn, we can strive to make the most compassionate, healthful decisions possible. Keep in mind that being vegan is about intention, not perfection.
Maybe someday society will have shifted so much that it will be more easily possible to live a purely vegan lifestyle. In the meantime, there's a lot we can do to help the animals in the here and now.
Maya Gottfried is the author of books, essays and articles for children and adults. She has previously written on her experience with cancer for crazysexylife.com. Her autobiographical essay "Untitled" appeared in the book "Half/Life: Jew-ish Tales from Interfaith Homes." Maya's most recent book for children, "Our Farm: By the Animals of Farm Sanctuary," is about the real-life residents of national farm animal protection organization Farm Sanctuary. Read her blog on Red Room.
Follow Maya Gottfried on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mayabidaya
You say that you have most likely - unknowingly - eaten non-vegan ingredients that you thought were vegan. You had to get life-saving chemotherapy medications that had been tested on animals.
In my view, you are no more an imperfect vegan than anybody else. Yes, if you deliberately chose not to read the ingredients list (so as not to be confronted with the fact that the product contains animal ingredients) or if you made the decision that "all birthday cake is vegan" in order not to offend somebody else, then I would consider that imperfect (or non-vegan, to be more precise).
Best regards,
Andy
I personally think that plants are sentient as well. Just because they are different from us and we don't understand how they communicate, doesn't mean that they don't. (Read "The Secret Life of Plants".) You are no less taking a life when you eat a carrot, than when you eat a chicken.
The problem with going vegan is that big Ag is poisoning our plant crops just as factory farms are poisoning our animals. GMOs, pesticides, herbicides, overplanting fields and not rotating crops, all contribute to the corruption of our food supply. This is the reason there are so many rampant diseases, food allergies, and new "syndromes" in our culture.
Whether you're an omnivore or a strict vegan, or somewhere in between, the most important thing is to eat organic and local. You can never be healthy eating big Ag and factory farmed foods because the plants and animals that come from these 'farms' are not healthy.
What a preposterous comment.
It is a thinking, breathing, feeling being.
The primary concern is the pain and suffering of the chicken.
The secondary concern is the death of the chicken.
I doubt that you sincerely believe that murdering a thinking, breathing, feeling animal is equivalent to uprooting a mass of plant cells.
It's important to realize that around 10 billion land animals are slaughtered for food each year in the US alone (the figure is around 50 billion a year for the whole world...and this doesn't include fish or other sea animals).
There is no way livestock animals could naturally breed in those numbers - they are artificially inseminated on a regular basis in massive factory farms. Grown female animals are kept constantly pregnant for the duration of their short lives, before they are sent off to slaughter.
If the demand for meat were eventually removed (or even significantly diminished), the number of cows, pigs, chickens, and other traditionally farmed animals would drastically decline.
"You do realize, don't you, that it's possible to obtain meat,
eggs, and dairy products from animals that are not "terrorized
and tortured"? Not all farms are factory farms, and veganism
is not the only solution to the problems involved in modern
animal agriculture."
http://www.animalsuffering.com/resources/videos/meet-your-meat-and-milk/
And I have no problem with killing animals for food. I'm an omnivorous consumer, and a darn good one at that. Our species is on top for a reason. I refuse to abdicate my position as the top-tier predator on this planet. Its a DARN good survival adaptation.
Your shock videos don't have much effect on me, my diet when it comes to animal products is close on to 100% organic. No CAFO meat for me, no penned up cows producing my dairy products (as few of them that I consume being lactose intolerant).
A Bloom County cartoon strip from the late 1980s similarly pokes fun at militant vegans: one of the characters says, "Dad, I don't think we should eat meat any more." The family transitions to being vegan... worrying at the end if by breathing they're indirectly killing bacteria!
If I can borrow from Keith Akers, there's a huge difference between unintentional killing Vs going out of one's way to harm or kill something which would otherwise be harmless.
Oh my Cod! During the course of interfaith discussion in the 1960s and 1970s, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada similarly commented that Christians cited the possibility that the historical Jesus in Palestine 2,000 years ago might have occasionally eaten fish to extrapolating and insisting that means its acceptable today in the land of plenty for Christianity to sanction the unnecessary killing of billions of animals!
It's like pro-choicers extrapolating from the "hard cases" of rape and incest to saying the unborn don't get rights at all, and can be killed for the trivial reasons we now kill animals.
I was in Florida recently for a photo shoot, and was STARVING. The only thing I could find at 11PM was a burger King. I knew their BK Veggie burger was NOT vegan, but I made the best choice I could at that moment.
We are all human, and if we all just tried to make decisions on the micro level - and avoid these macro labels - we would all be so better off.
Most males also end up as veal calves.
Animals should not be milk machines for humans.
And I also love that there are so many options for clothing. I bought several pairs of beautiful faux leather boots this fall. I've bought faux leather for a long time in boots and purses, but this quality is much better than I've seen in the past; I think more manufacturers are doing more vegan clothing/made in America because that's what more people want, and I like that there are more choices in them.
Great links in this article, too, that I've already favorited and will visit often.
I understand it is a tough call with that special non-vegan dish - but how do you think others will understand that veganism is important to you?
What they will take away from that occurence is that animal suffering is important to you - but not as important as making somebody else uncomfortable. I would call this a "confusing signal".
Best regards,
Andy
But if people are going to be so hard edged and judgmental about it and it's going to cause so much contention, I'm going to be very quiet about experimenting with that kind of eating and not let anyone know--except my family--that I'm doing it. Suffering of any person or animal is something I abhor, but I also don't see the point of arguing about something that is a personal choice or berating someone because they don't think exactly as others do or has not adopted their strict way of eating.
Your post was very reasonble, but I was shocked at what others have written about this.
that's it... I'm just going to live my humble life in modesty and enjoy my animal products as I have all my life.
lenge everyday!
And a lot of suffering for cows and their calves. Every baby is permanently and forcefully removed from their mother within days on a commercial dairy farm, at great suffering to both. And what do you think happens to males on a dairy farm?
In an effort to conserve water, you might install a water-saver on your kitchen faucet, saving up to 6,000 gallons of water per year. Most of those savings would be lost if you consumed just one pound of beef (which requires 5,200 gallons of water per pound to produce—compared to only 25 gallons for a pound of wheat). Raising animals for food consumes more than half of all water used in the U.S. A totally vegetarian diet requires 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat-eating diet requires more than 4,200 gallons of water per day.