I originally wrote this as a response to a comment on VRF (Vegan Represent Forums), from a member who was suffering from vegan-animal rights related burnout. I think it works well enough to stand alone as an essay-post. Enjoy ~
***** I remember reading a post on a veggie board (was it this one?) last winter when I was doing some preliminary research right before I decided I was definately going to commit to veganism. The scenario, that the individaul couldn’t stop watching videos of animal suffering and crying, really stuck with me — mostly, I think, because I knew then and know now that if I accept the notion that all animal suffering is wrong, then I’m distancing myself rather severely from the majority of the opinions around me and this can lead to feelings of futility, disconnection, rage, etc.
It is true that right now there are animals enduring unimaginable suffering for little more than the pleasure of the taste buds of
a surprisingly large number of imperfectly informed human beings. It’s also true that in southern Africa children as young as 8 or 9 are being drafted into local wars over diamond-rich territory for little more than a Westerner’s desire to wear something hard and shiny round their neck, finger or on their teeth. Along the coast of Africa, young children are forced into slavery for the production of cocoa and chocolate. In a surprisingly large number of nations, including our own, women and children toil in sweatshops for 12-16 hours a day, making as little as 15 cents an hour, are subjected to sexual harrasment and physical abuse and are refused rights as basic as being able to use the restroom to relieve themselves. Two counties away from where I’m typing this response, a fire in a chicken processing plant killed nearly 200 employees, almost all women, because the managers of the plant had locked the employees in, to keep them from leaving the premises during work hours. In an OSHA investigation of a pipe foundary in Tyler, Texas, just a few years ago, an inspector was dumbfounded and shocked to note that over 3/4s of all employees were permanently scarred or maimed in some way, despite the fact that the plants turnover rate exceeded 800% — a popular bumper sticker in the area reads: "Pray for me, I work for Tyler Pipe". And just a few months ago, without fanfare, we crossed the environmental point of no return for global warming — parts per milometer of carbon in the atmosphere have now exceeded the ratio at which we can reasonably mitigate the long-term effects of our own pollution.
The very worst acts we engage in and/or tolerate as human beings tend to be the ones which are most easily hidden, removed, abstract to our understanding.
And yet… somewhere, right now, a 16 year old has just decided to go vegan and will save the lives of over 800 animals over the course of a lifetime due to that singular decision. The designer Mark Bouwer is not just participating in anti-fur fashion events, such as the "Cool vs. Cruel" design competition, but actively challenging his design students to create entire collections free of any and all animal products. Wangari Mathaii recently became the first African woman to recieve the Nobel peace prize for her extroadinary work within the Greenbelt Movement, which, to date, has been responsible for the planting of over 30 million trees.
I’ve realized, though, that we don’t live in a completely non-vegan world. We live in a half-vegan world. No human being alive exists as a true carnivore and very, very few of us are totally immune to the suffering of our fellow living creatures.
And in a sense, that can be one of the most infuriating aspects of living a conscientious, compassionate life — so many of the changes we need to see occur in this world are but a hare’s breath shy of reality. We have the language and the reason to promote better decision making processes, habits and traditions, yet we fail… over and over again. We may have gotten to the point where most people will readily agree that the melanin content in another person’s skin doesn’t make them a better or worse human being, yet we still promote the welfare of the residents of this country over the welfare of those who happen to have been born on more distant soil, we promote humans over animals for little or no reason — in short, we promote the familiar over the reasonable and the convenient over long-term sanity and prosperity.
For myself, the bedrock basis of my commitment to compassion begins with a reasonable examination of what it means to be alive and human. What I promote, first and foremost, is the belief that all living creatures, human or otherwise, should have the right to exist outside of the classification of "property". We need to be able to discuss basic, living rights — the right for every living creature to access fresh air, clean water and enough open space to exercise the natural inclinations we were born with. If we can begin with a view as simple and basic as this we can quickly move forward to address a diversity of issues as broad as the immorality of child armies, sweatshops, intensive animal agriculture, the livestock industry, gross poverty, human rights, animal rights, women’s rights, the safekeeping of our environment, etc.
This view also informs the way I treat myself and my fellow human beings. If I believe that it’s wrong to work a horse to death, why on earth would I treat myself with less respect? If I believe torture is wrong, why on earth would I dwell on thoughts which serve no purpose except to add to my own discomfort? If I wouldn’t slap a dog around because it’s in my way, why would I verbally abuse an ideological opponent?
I may not be able to reverse the atrocities which have been committed against my fellow earthlings but I can consistently contribute the talents that I have to the creation of a more sustainable and humane future. I can make better choices, I can continuously extend the language of reason and I can commit myself to existing as a perennial example of the feasibility of an ethicly-grounded life.
And, honestly, of all the individuals who’ve graced this world with their zeal and profundity, I can’t think of one compassionate leader who’s done more or less.
