Have Gone Vegan

what are you truly grateful for?

While it's easy to get down by the seemingly constant barrage of negative news (even more so when you're vegan), being grateful for the things that you have and for the things that go right is a good practice to cultivate. Not only is it an effective coping tool and a pleasant way to increase your awareness of joyfulness, I believe it's what we owe for the privilege of being a guest on planet Earth.

(Having said that, I must admit I positively enjoyed Barbara Ehrenreich's skillful skewering of the positive thinking movement in her insightful and often funny Bright-Sided.)

New Vegan Age made some great observations three days ago about four reasons to feel grateful in 2013 (including our veganism, our past, our present, and our future), but what I thought I'd do here is list a few specific things that I'm personally grateful for. Please add to the list, or make up your own! Oh, and in case you're wondering about the series of one-liner posts that I ran these past six days, they're leading up to a summary post planned for tomorrow.

15 Vegan Things I'm Grateful For:

• Daiya cheese (I now think of my life as BDC and ADC, snort)
• the online vegan community (where would I be without you?)
• Mercy for Animals Canada! (their segment on W5 reached millions)
• Vegenaise (cuz toasted tomato sandwiches wouldn't be the same otherwise)
• organizations like Vegan Outreach (it's not too late to donate)
• vegan friends (a struggle shared...)
• my kitty girl Kazumi Joy (okay, she's not vegan, but helped me become one)
• a host of vegan books like Vegan's Daily Companion, Vegan for Life, and what I'm reading now: Aftershock: Confronting Trauma in a Violent World, a Guide for Activists and Their Allies
• foods that were already vegan to begin with (beans and oranges and apples, oh my)
• positive reactions to my vegan tees (one teenage girl got so excited by my "food is to eat, animals are to love" tee that she made everyone in the check-out line check it out!)
• my 5-year vegan anniversary this coming summer (I'll be celebrating!)
• any person I've been able to help or inspire on this blog (thank YOU)
• French Vanilla Silk soy beverage for coffee (my coffee thanks IT)
• animal rescues and animal sanctuaries everywhere
• increased vegan awareness at large
• and on and on I could go, yo
• add yours! :) 

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Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so let us all be thankful.  --Buddha

when was the last time you laughed?

And I don't just mean a little chuckle.

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At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.
--JEAN HOUSTON

is your "to-do" list too long?

Write a "stop-doing" list instead.

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what can U do...

...to help heal the earth and her inhabitants?

There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.
--Marshall McLuhan

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what excites you the most?

Do it.
Now.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what brings you the greatest joy?

Is perhaps the second most important question.

☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺☺

what would love do?

Is perhaps the first (only?) question we need to ask.

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so is Ellen still vegan? part 1

Well, I have my own thoughts on this (which I'll likely share in part 2), but the reaction from the vegan community at large* certainly seems to have answered some of the questions I posed in my previous temptation with eggs post. Interesting timing, huh?

Q: Would I have been stripped of my vegan title? A: Absolutely. I may also have been tarred and feathered -- wait, feathers aren't vegan, but tar still is, I think.

Q: And by whom? A: Anyone and everyone. Being vegan isn't a matter of self-definition apparently, and anyone who deems you unfit can declare you non-vegan, and even claim that you weren't vegan to begin with. Vegans who are thought to be "welfarist" by others shouldn't be calling themselves vegan either, I learned.

Q: Would posting about it have been folly? A: Yes.

Q: Is posting about even being tempted foolish? A: Probably.

Q: What would have happened had I given in to temptation? Would that have undone everything I have tried to do these last four years? A: Likely.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we shouldn't be disappointed that Ellen is possibly eating eggs again, but I do think we should be equally disappointed with how vegans as a whole have reacted. First, talk about being quick to pounce and denounce! Could we at least get more clarification and feedback from Ellen before vilifying? Could we be a bit less vulture-like? No offense to vultures intended of course.

Could we stop reserving our compassion (supposedly the cornerstone of veganism) for non-human animals only and have some left over for human animals as well? And other vegans especially? Could we try not to perpetuate the stereotype that vegans are angry, judgmental and self-righteous assholes? That one is hard, I know, because I'm angry, judgmental and self-righteous a lot of the time too. And an asshole on occasion.

Could we remember that only about 1% of us are vegan? That even with 19 million booklets handed out by Vegan Outreach over the last decade or so that that percentage hasn't changed much? If any? (Why is that, by the way?) That veganism isn't the end, but the means?

I dunno. I'm still glad I didn't partake of my uncle's eggs (well, not HIS eggs, but you know what I mean), and luckily I'm not famous so don't have my mistakes/choices witnessed by gazillions, but this whole Ellen episode (and the reaction especially) has left me feeling disheartened, sad, annoyed, angry and questioning. While I will always be vegan (self-defined at least), do I really want to call myself that now? Because at the moment the word is calling to mind all kinds of other negative V words like vicious, vilification, vitriol, vengeful, and vindictive -- not what I thought I signed up for. 

* from what I've read anyway

Okay, because I'm still in a pissy mood right now but would rather not be, and before I continue my thoughts in part 2, I'm going to insert this video parodying another hugely famous (except that I haven't seen it yet) video, and see if it cheers me up a bit. Watch with me if you like! :)