Thursday, October 28, 2010

Please Label Me!

I was inspired by a blog entry by my friend Neven Jones called "I'm not a vegan".  Its a great blog, I can relate to it quite a bit.  I started to think about myself getting hung up with the term "vegan".  When I decided to do it, I jumped up, declared I was a vegan,... and then I had to ask what that even meant.  I quickly adopted the label, before I began to think about what went into it.  Unlike Neven, I started with the label and began to work backwards from there. I could have just cut items out of my diet, but that wasn't good enough, because I couldn't identify that with a label.  Start with a label, then figure out how to fill in the blanks. (Its my mantra)

I've always been of the mindset that as soon as you can identify what you are, you have made the first step in identifying what medication you can take to get rid of it. Ok, maybe thats a bit extreme, but the label is important to me. I'm not that shallow, I may identify with the label, but I also have the tendency to rock that label to its core.  I'm very loyal, I'm like a Golden Retriever (a rescued one, not from a breeder,.. just sayin). There are many labels I have enjoyed over the years; Employed, Married, Divorced, Father, Single Dad, Cancer Survivor, Donor, Bi-Polar, Tri-Polar (ok, thats an inside joke), Vegan!!!!!

So there I am,.. I am a vegan, no... I'm a Vegan. And here I am trying to figure out what that means. I never considered a lot of things.  I never considered anything other than food. I never thought about what my shoes were made of (I assume like everyone that they were made by kids in Bangladesh), where I got my dog (I don't know actually, my ex just came home with him), nothing like that. My friend Noelle asked me this week if I was an "ethical" vegan.  I had to think about that for a second.  We soon determined that I was not ethical (in the vegan sense).  I believe some other terms were thrown around; immoral, evil, hateful,.. ok, FINE,.. but I got her point.  She indicated to me that most people become vegan for ethical reasons, otherwise eating meat or dairy every once in a while would be fine. Right?  Well I was pretty bent this past week when I found out my Pumpkin Spice Latte was not vegan. (granted it was more the ineptness of the Starbucks worker to not realize that non-dairy meant no whipped cream either). It took me a while to figure out why I was upset by it.  I got over the Starbucks ineptitude, but the next day I was there, I opted for my classic Soy Latte (Mom was buying this week, I never spend that much money on sbux ,.. thanks ma). I didn't want to consume something that I knew was not vegan. I didn't save any animal by skipping it, but it was important to me.  Label or not, it bothered me.
So here I am. I'm Vegan! Ethically challenged it seems, but it seems I'm starting to understand things a little better.  I'm think I am doing the right thing, but I'm going to hang on to the label.  Its like a crutch for me. I'm also meeting some rather inspiring folks (and some creepy ones), and that was a bonus that I never anticipated.

9 comments:

  1. Creepy people! WOO!

    The ethical thing is so so so subjective. It's just one of those things.
    If you live your life trying to be a bit better than you were yesterday (whatever better means to you, if it's not hurting anyone else)... I think you'll do just fine.
    that's more ethical than a lot of people ever think to be.

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  2. I think that even just thinking about where (and who) food comes from is a great step in the right direction. Being vegan is an evolution, and a process. You don't have to have all the answers right now, but it's important that you're thinking about the questions, right?

    You might not feel like an "ethical vegan" right now, but perhaps through your own journey & education, you'll start at least understanding that aspect more, even if you don't strongly identify with it. It's true that a lot of people go vegan for ethical reasons (and "vegan" is, by definition, an ethical stance), but as long as people go vegan at all, I'm happy. :)

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  3. I'm guessing that you didn't become vegan because you thought it would be easy, or because you wanted to feel like you're better than everyone; something jumped out at you, whether it was your health, to support your wife, or because you wanted to try something new. Whatever that reason was, it doesn't need justification. It was enough to cause you to live this way for eight months, to have emotional reactions to non-vegan foods, to stick through it when it made you feel annoying. So you're coming from a different perspective? Awesome, veganism is spreading to new people!

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  4. Actually, I've run into more people who became vegan for dietary reasons....BUT....most of them, including me, find themselves falling more toward ethical. I think it's because of information. Once I started eating vegan I began reading more about it ... and learned more than I ever wanted to know about the what happens to animals to get them to other people's plates. I really do not want to contribute to that. I still tend to describe myself as a "dietary vegan" simply because I'm a work in progress.

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  5. thanks for the comments. btw, that is not my arm, but if i were to get a vegan tattoo, that would force me to stay on track. i indeed started by only considering it a diet change, and thats even what i told people. the ethical stuff came, and is still coming now. that is a much different hurdle, than just a diet. thank you all for the encouragement. it is nice to be reassured.

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  6. I have a rescued Golden Retriever and she is the best:) She is so loyal and protective of us, she is our angel. Keep on rockin' your label. It is great that it works for you and keeps you focused. I am so glad we met on Twitter and I enjoy reading your blog. It's nice to get a fresh perspective on things.

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  7. thank you for the nice comments neven,.. this blog entry would not have been complete without a comment from you :)

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  8. FYI, I didn't feel like an ethical vegan until I'd been eating an exclusively vegan diet for a *long* time.

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  9. hi rachel, i dont see that part coming for a while i still have a way to go before i get a lot of things out of my head and truly convert.

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