Being a voice for the voiceless

Many times while expressing my viewpoint or speaking up for something or against something, I look inside myself to see if the action I am taking is truly honoring the voiceless, whichever voiceless I am trying to be a voice for at the moment.

How is my action or behavior actually helping the voiceless? Is it viewed positively or negatively. Would folks not necessarily in agreement with me at least ponder what I am talking about or will they just blow me off as crazy, rude, etc?

This topic is huge for me. I seldom lose sight of why I am an activist, why I think it is so important to be  a voice for the voiceless. To continually speak out against animal cruelty, bigotry, violence and recently just basic unkindness. To be a voice for liberation.

I became vegan for one reason: animal cruelty. I didn't become vegan because someone yelled at me or threatened me. It was a very personal decision based on the person I wanted to be. I loved animals. Why in the world would I want to do anything that would harm them? Although I would have picked up a stray dog or stopped someone from abusing an animal in front of me, what was on my dinner plate did not reflect my values when it came to animals.

I know that some will disagree with me, that we must do everything in our power to stop the violence and to fight for total liberation.

I would rather invite those opposed to my ideas or my way of thinking for a coffee and actually talk. This of course is not always possible. I would rather disrupt in a calm, kind voice. I have seen this in action and smiled.

I remember one day standing outside a Baptist church during a silent protest against the church taking out a full-page ad in the local paper to denounce homosexuality and make clear their stance against it. Chatting with a family on their way out I said that we all have more in common than not. We had a wonderful conversation. I am not sure if they would stand on the side of liberation and equality, yet I am pretty sure they would not demonize gay people. Perhaps that's a start.

Thanks for reading.

From Kentucky to Syria

What a week.

There is so much being said and written about what happened this week in a small town in Kentucky. And then there is the refugee crisis in Europe as thousands continue to flee the violence and persecution in Syria.

It is a wonderful chance to be a voice for the voiceless.

As anti-gay bigots gathered in Kentucky to celebrate the release of Kim Davis, the county clerk found in contempt of court and jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, I kept thinking of gay couples around the country who still do not feel safe in their communities. Watching a man scream "sodomites" at gay people gathered at the court house I shook my head and wanted to do something for people who have to live in a place where such bigotry is rampant.

Across the Atlantic, tens of thousands of refugees face similar bigoted situations. Let's start by calling them migrants. That sounds better when refusing to care for them in any way. In fact, they are people like you and me, whose very lives are at risk because of who they are, where they live or what they believe. They want to live. They want their children to be safe.

In both cases bigotry is at high levels. Whether it is in the name of Jesus or in the name of nationalism, the way people are being treated disgusts me.

We can speak out. On social media, with our friends and neighbors, and with our check books. We must speak out against bigotry and for compassion.

Love one another.

Kentucky and Syria might seem like far away places, yet what is happening in these places can happen anywhere. We can be silent or we can be their voice.

Thanks for reading.

Bloggers and journalists - killings in France

Just a quick post.

My heart breaks for those killed in Paris today.

So many journalists have been killed recently, or are in prison somewhere.

I have always considered bloggers as part of the journalist family.

Sending big love to all of you. Whatever you blog about, keep doing it. I blog to try to make the world a better place for all living beings, to be a voice for the voiceless and to try to build bridges amongst communities that disagree.

There is SO much to blog about. SO many stories to tell. SO much injustice to consider.

Thank for reading and for supporting our blog.

Get local! - 3 simple actions

This won't surprise those of you who have read past blogs posts when I write that this post is about getting active politically.

Many people who read this blog want to make the world a better place for all living beings. Although I often write about animal cruelty issues and issues that tend to be national or international, I believe it is hugely important that each of us takes action in our own backyard.

I am going to offer three simple suggestions that you can take to make your voice heard in your own community, actions that will make your community better, or at the least, get your message out there.

The folks I am asking you to connect with are easy to find. A few minutes on Google and you will be done.

I think all three of these are important based on where I live, and what is going on in my own community.

Ready. Set. Go!

Action #1: Find out who represents you on city council and engage with them. In our case we have two folks who represent our area and I am in touch with them frequently (but not too much!). When local issues arise or when I hear about some vote at city council that concerns me, I send an email to these two. Many city ordinances that support those in need, companion animals, etc. were created because of folks like us who gave a shit.

Action #2: Find out who your Chief of Police is and write them a letter asking them to conduct training around how officers deal with companion animals. This one is of great interest to me as I have read too many articles about police who have killed a companion animal, usually a dog. Training helps. Asking your local folks to be aware of this helps too. You never know whose companion animal you will save!

Action #3: Get to know who is on your local school board and find out whether they support your thoughts around education (or other things). In our county, our school board has been taken over by folks who call themselves "reformists" but in my opinion are only spending public money to support their agenda which seems to be to change public education. This is happening all over the country. And here, the school board seems to have little care for students who are not well off. Even if you do not have children in the school district, like us, find out what is going on in your district.

That's it ! Pretty easy, right? All of these actions will make a difference with issues that are important to you. We cannot be a voice for the voiceless if we do not express that voice.

Thanks for reading!

A day in the life of this blogger

You have a what?

A blog.

A blog?

Yes, a blog. It's called The Gay Vegans.

I've had this conversation many times. While many folks subscribe to many blogs, and others read at least a couple every day, there are still those who just don't get it.

I created The Gay Vegans as a way to be more active as a human rights and animal rights activist, as a way to promote building bridges, to promote activism, and to be a voice for the voiceless.

And I love it.

It's not easy. Being present and active in my marriage. Supporting an amazing life for our dogs and two chinchillas. Working as a fundraiser for an agency that serves young people experiencing the brutality of homelessness. Trying to eat well. Trying to stay fit. And trying my best to carve out a little time every week to write blog posts that I hope others will enjoy reading, get inspired by, and even at times take action based on something they learned from the post.

Life flies by. Some days I totally forget to check The Gay Vegans accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Sometimes it takes me more than the 24 hours I would like it to take to get back to readers who have asked a question or have asked for support with something. Life is crazy busy without being a blogger. Being a blogger just adds to the craziness, which I apparently enjoy!

Writing doesn't come easy to me. At first I would say that I wasn't a good writer. I do believe there is a difference in being a good writer and being a good blogger. I also believe that in time, and with writing many blog posts and listening to others about how to become a better blogger, my posts have gotten better.

As you might know, there are a bunch of different types of blogs out there. The Gay Vegans is all about bringing communities together and being a voice for all of the voiceless, including animals who are brutalized to become food, folks persecuted around the world for being who they are (female, gay, transgender, ethnic, religious, etc.) and trying to spread the message that we all really have more in common with each other than not. Kindness, compassion, passion, action. All of these I try to include in my posts.

The Gay Vegans has been around for three years. In that time I have been inspired and filled with hope by responses from readers of this blog, and at times totally blown away by actions taken based on a blog post I wrote.

I have been thrilled to attend conferences or shows with press credentials as more and more outlets consider bloggers as such.

I am super excited when I think about The Gay Vegans in the future. So much to write about. So many actions to ask folks to participate in. So much love and kindness to spread.

Thanks for reading. I am grateful. And please keep the stories, feedback and comments coming!

Still don't want to vote?

I was reading a friend's Facebook comments recently about a man running for the state house in Michigan who removed her comments and blocked her from his Facebook page after she posted that she would not be voting for him. My first thought was "typical", and then I started really thinking about it.

This guy, who I also would not vote for if I still lived back in my hometown, could easily win. He may not support women, he may not support public schools, he may not support equality for gays and lesbians. He could support corporate and agricultural welfare, he could support allowing anyone to buy any type of gun from anyone else and he could support a myriad of other things that I might disagree with.

And he is just like someone running for political office where you live.

He is almost assured a victory.

Unless you vote.

There is a huge us vs. them battle going on these days. This is perpetuated by those in political power and those who want political power. And it's not just one party, it's members of both parties.

In many activist communities I have met people who do not vote. Amazing activists, incredibly passionate people. Yet they don't vote.

In November, there will be elections all over the country. New congressmen will be elected or re-elected, members of state houses will be elected, new school board members, etc. Whoever wins will represent you at the US Capitol, your state capitol and your county school board.

I write a lot about being a voice for the voiceless. This is another one of those opportunities. Check out the candidates in your area. Find out where they stand on issues important to you. Call them or email them. Even if you are in a supposed district where the winner is already known.

We have the power.

Vote.

Vote for the animals. Vote for equal rights. Vote to support equality for women. Vote to support nine year olds who are refugees on our border. Vote to speak out loudly for the voiceless.

Thanks for reading.

Three years of The Gay Vegans blog

It was June 16, 2011, my first blog post for The Gay Vegans.

I wanted to create a blog separate from the one I did for my work as a fundraiser, and The Gay Vegans was born.

As it says on the main page, this blog was created to build bridges amongst communities, to be a voice for the voiceless and to share our experiences being gay and vegan in the burbs.

The blog has become so much than that, thanks to those who have found it interesting, who read it regularly and who take action when we ask our readers to do something that we think will make the world a better place for all living beings.

Thank you so much!

I love corresponding with folks who write me about a blog post or folks who are considering going vegan. I love hearing back from people who registered to vote for the first time or who came out to an elected official, whether the coming out was about their sexuality of the fact that they are vegan and wanted to elected official to know.

Most of all, I love the hundreds of stories that have been shared with me about the actions of one person who decided that they wanted to make a difference, and they did!

I am sending thanks to everyone who has ever read a blog post and to all of you out there who have supported The Gay Vegans. I am super stoked when I think of what more I can do with this blog, and how much more fun all of us can have as we become a stronger voice for the voiceless and continue making this world a better, safer place for all living beings.

Let's do it!

Thanks for reading!

Be kind to animals

Videos of animal cruelty are a dime a dozen these days.

So are videos of the aftermath of such cruelty.

Even if one takes out the inevitable maltreatment of animals that become food, that are used in entertainment and that are tested on, horrific acts against animals happen so frequently that it can become overwhelming when I think about it.

And then I see a video like I recently saw.

No need to go into it. It was from overseas. I suppose it doesn't even matter where the video was from. It could have easily been from here in the U.S.

I was disgusted.

There is no way the question "why" can be answered. I have no clue why people torture animals. Perhaps it's because they can. They have the power.

It's easy to feel powerless. Yet allowing so much cruelty to make us powerless does no good for anyone, certainly not the animals.

We can promote simple kindness to animals. We can speak out against cruelty towards animals.

We can teach our children to be kind to animals.

We can make animal cruelty so unacceptable that people begin to think twice about inflicting harm on an animal.

Kindness rules. Just as I write about being kind to other humans, we can take the lead on getting more and more people to think about animal cruelty.

The more noise we make against cruelty to animals, the more change happens.

The animals in those videos can't be saved. The once about to be video taped tomorrow can.

Thanks for reading!

Looking at ourselves

This past week sure has been eye opening for me. To read more on that go back one post and read "no homo". Through that post and conversation and comments that were a result of that post, I have realized things that are hard for me to stomach.

Forgive me while I just share some random thoughts.

I have been part of the vegan community for along time. I know we have our faults. A community filled with so much passion and compassion in trying everyday to decrease animal suffering is also a community as diverse as any other. We all come from from different parts of the country (and world!) and we all have our life experiences outside of being vegan.

Also, we all have different reasons for becoming vegan and participate in different levels of activism.

This isn't only in the vegan/animal rights communities. I find it in local politics, the LGBTQ communities I am part of as well as the homeless activist community I am proud to be a part of.

Regardless of what community we are a part of and are passionate for, we are a representative of that community. Like it or not, our actions and our life steps have an affect on what others may think of our community.

For me as a vegan and animal rights activist, I am very aware that I represent the billions of animals that suffer for food, fashion and entertainment. I am asked about that all of the time. If I am acting like an ass, and folks know I am vegan, it doesn't look good for the voiceless animals whom I am trying to help.

Racism, heterosexism, sexism, homophobia, hate, etc. have no place in the vegan/animal rights communities.

The more I wrote about "no homo" the more I learned how many people use the comment. People in the vegan/animal rights communities. It was totally disheartening.

Many times in my life I have to look in the mirror and take a good look at who I am and what I am doing. My language, my behavior. How does someone feel about veganism after an encounter with me? Do my posts, tweets and comments reflect well for the voiceless?

I don't like when I hear homophobic comments at vegan events. I don't like realizing that there is acceptability by vegan athletes around the term "no homo".

So I speak out against it. I let folks know that what they are saying is offensive.

And then I go back to that mirror and take a good look at myself.

Thanks for reading and thanks for being a voice for the voiceless.

One small action

I love this photo of Rose as she loves to be on my laptop when I am working on blog posts.

Being an activist can be overwhelming. The amount of suffering in this world can make you crazy!

I am writing this as Rose is cuddled up next to me.

Rose has been part of our family since Thanksgiving week last year. One day a couple weeks before that she woke up in her cage at a puppy mill, the same cage she had lived in for seven years, and was greeted by a local law enforcement person.

Her prison had been raided and she had been freed. No more litters for Rose. After seven years of cruelty and neglect, her life was about to change big time.

Two weeks later she was on Mike's lap, a surprise I had for him when I heard that she was going to be up for adoption at a local shelter. A couple of months earlier our almost 18 year old love Rock had passed away. Mike loves Yorkies. And we couldn't support breeders or puppy mills by going to buy a Yorkie. So I waited.

After meeting Rose we were both in love. The next Monday we got the call: come get her.

As I look at her all cuddled up with me, I think about all of the small actions so many of us take that change the world for other living beings.

We never know what the result will be. Our action may be an hour spent at a protest, a phone call or email to a politician, a financial donation, walking a dog at our local shelter, making a vegan dish for a work potluck, and as you can imagine the list could go on and on.

A small action can take all of five minutes or several hours. It can be done daily or once a month.

One small action can make a giant difference.

I constantly write about being a voice for the voiceless and trying daily to make the world a better place for all living beings.

You have the power to make change. Please don't let the overwhelming amount of pain, despair and suffering hold you back.

Go for it.

One small action.

Thanks for reading!

Another legislative session in Colorado - make your voice heard!

In Colorado, our state legislature is not year-long. They begin in January and go through early May.

I believe that it is vital for any activist to be politically active. When politicians, especially on the state level, know who you are and are familiar with your concerns, change has a better chance of happening.

This session won't be much different than past sessions. A lot of hot air against the other side.  Egos run rampant. Meanwhile the people of Colorado many times get left behind. I must say that I have met many of those who represent Coloradans at the state capitol and they truly care about the people they represent. I don't know what happens through the process of creating legislation that they tend to forget this.

One of the bills I have been watching is a bill that would allow gay and lesbian couple who have married in states where there is marriage equality to file state taxes as a couple. This passed the state senate along party (Democrat/Republican) lines 18 - 16. One Republican must have not voted as they have 17 folks in the state senate. The bill goes on to the state house where the Democrats have a large majority. Most likely Governor Hickenlooper will sign it.

This bill makes a lot of sense, especially because gay and lesbian couples who are legally married can now file federal taxes as a couple. The religious extremists say this would affect traditional marriage. I imagine many things affect traditional marriage. In this case, the couples are already married. Legally. I think most of the no votes boil down to the fact that many of them just do not like gay folk and the rest feel like they have to vote the party line.

Just as a refresher, Republican politicians in Colorado generally do not care for gay people. Many will talk your ears off that their votes/opinions have to do with a long list of other reasons, yet the simple fact is that they just don't like us.

Why is this important to activists? Many in state races win by a very few votes. The new Attorney General in Virginia won by less than 1,000 votes in a statewide vote!

Also, state legislators have control over state laws, which have a huge affect on each of us.

And just to remind you, everyone has two people who represent them at their state capitol. In Colorado we have one state legislator and one state senator. We also have term limits, so the max a state legislator can serve is four, two-year terms and the max a state senator can serve is two, four-year terms.

If you care about animal cruelty, let your state rep and senator know. If you have an opinion about gun control, send an email. Care about poverty, women's rights, speed limits or GMO's, pick up the phone.

We can complain amongst ourselves as much as we want. Change does not have a chance of happening until we express our opinions to those who have the power to make change.

Here's a website  where you can look up who represents you at your state capitol: http://votesmart.org/

Thanks for reading! 

Forgiveness

I have been thinking of this as a topic for a post for a while now.

In my personal life I have had to ask for forgiveness many times.

I have also had to forgive.

In a world that sometimes feels completely filled with hatred and unkindness, with violence, judgement and just plain meanness, being able to forgive or ask for forgiveness can be huge.

I often write about one of my main purposes with this blog: to make this world a better, safer pace for all living beings. That is more difficult to do if I am filled with negativity towards someone, or is I have treated someone in a manner that was unkind in any way.

In a past blog post, one about being kind, I wrote "We do not need to meet hate with hate or unkindness with unkindness." I truly believe this. Just because someone is unkind to me doesn't mean I need to be unkind to them.

Easy? Not really.

Worth it? Totally.

Several years ago I planned a veg fest here in Denver called the Denver Veg Fest. My first event of this type and I had a blast. The great thing was to see a diverse crowd of people, a couple of thousand plus, all there to learn a little about veganism and animal rights (and to try some great vegan food!). Successful in many ways, mainly in that I felt we had created something that was a loud voice for the animals.

In the end, it also became an amazing fundraiser, with me being able to donate thousands of dollars to local and national animal groups.

When I decided to not plan another veg fest, I began to hear that some people were saying, behind my back, that I had "stolen" money from the fest. The fest was my deal, and there were a handful of folks who helped with it who also had a say in the money we raised and where it should be donated.  The people saying negative things about me personally had nothing to do with the all of the hard work it took to put on the fest. I was completely caught off guard by this. The whole idea of what was being said was incredibly hurtful to me. Words definitely hurt.

It took me awhile, but I had to forgive. It was not going to do me or the voiceless I try to be a voice for every day any good if I allowed myself to hold onto anything negative about these folks. All I could do is simply put out there what I did and why, which I did, and then let it go.

And of course there have been many times when I have had to apologize and ask for forgiveness. I try my best to make those times as few as possible.

With so much suffering in the world, with so much hatred, there is just no reason to use our energy in holding onto grudges or being mean to others.

Forgive. Let go. Move on. Build a bridge and get over it.

Then get busy. The animals need you. The poor need you. The activists in prison need. The voiceless need you.

Thanks for reading!

More dead Egyptians and Syrians

If you watch the national news or read any news-oriented websites you must know that in the last couple of weeks Egypt has exploded in violence that has left over 1,000 dead. In Syria, the death toll from violence since citizens began demanding the ouster of President Assad has added to the tens of thousands already killed by an attack that some say were chemical attacks leaving another 1,000 plus Syrians dead.

In the US, we are being informed about all of this, yet our nation seems to be just standing by and watching.

Believe me, I understand that both situations are complex. I also understand that, even though they won elections fair and square, many people, including many Americans, do not like the Muslim Brotherhood.

I'm also pretty sure that many in the Muslim Brotherhood and some in the Syrian resistance to not care much for gay people.

I am still sickened by all of the death.

Last week I watched as an older man, older than me, stood in front of a tank in Egypt waving his arms in what looked like an effort to stop the tank. Minutes later he was gunned down.

Yesterday I saw the video of bodies lined up in Syria after a supposed chemical attack.

I have always known that there is a lot of hate in this world.

So many viewpoints and so many things to think about.

In the midst of all of this slaughter, I don't even know what to do. Writing about it helps. Having conversation with others helps.

As a blogger who always tries to be a voice for the voiceless, I am a little puzzled. In Egypt a fairly-elected government is in jail, and when their supporters protest, they are shot dead. Yes, many refused to leave encampments, just like many Occupiers in the US refused to leave. And in Syria, how many will have to die?

Yes, both situations are complicated.

And more and more people will continue to die.

Thank you for reading.

Awesome actions for this week

One thing I love writing about is that we all have the power to take action in making the world a better place.

Every year Mike and I take a two week vacation. Usually it is planned around visiting one of our parents (two if we're lucky). The past couple of summers we have been able to spend awesome time with all of our parents, and this year we decided to prioritize us and our marriage and are headed to southern California for food and beach.

As we count down the days before we leave, I wanted to share some ideas of how we can all be a voice for the voiceless this week. Some of these ideas are repeats and others are fresh from that turning wheel in my head!

Meatless Monday! Celebrate it! Tell friends who are not vegan or veg all about it and offer them ways (or meal invites!) to enjoy the day.

Walk a dog at a shelter. Yep, no matter what their tomorrow looks like, you can brighten their today with a nice walk and maybe some cuddling.

Play time with a cat in a shelter. Same idea as with the dog minus the walk.

Send a note to your favorite charity with a $25 donation. Tell them why you love them and why you are donating. This will have a huge ripple affect with those who work there. I promise it.

Have a quiet date night with your beloved. Or your best friend. As voices for the voiceless, we have to take care of ourselves.

Write an email to a politician who represents you on any level or your local police chief. Tell them what you think about animal cruelty or anything else important to you. I add the police chief because in Colorado several family dogs have been shot by police and I want our chief to know that we would like his employees to have better training and high expectations.

These are just a start and I hope you have time to do at least one.

With all of us doing actions like these we can rock the world!

Thanks for reading!

Rutgers and animal rights - stopping cowards

For those of you who read my posts about the Rutgers basketball coach this week, calling for him to be fired, you might have been surprised to read about sports in one of my blog posts. With such violence and anti-gay slurs coming from a person in power, I felt I had to write about it.

But what we saw in the videos from Rutgers we have seen before.

If, like us, you support all of the groups out there who do undercover work to give animals in factory farms and in labs a voice, the actions and abuse of power coming from a coward is nothing new.

Recently Mercy for Animals has made headlines with their undercover work. I decided not to show a video (Mercy For Animals is linked on our main page if you'd like to take a look). Their videos have a lot in common with the Rutgers video: people in power doing unspeakable things to those they are charged to care for. In the MFA videos we see, time after time, terrified animals being kicked, thrown, tortured and sometimes killed. By cowards.

In some stats, legislators are talking about passing bills to stop undercover investigations. In Iowa this is now law. These so called "ag gag" bills are meant to keep people who care about animals away, to keep profit up, and to be able to treat their product as they see fit.

I think "ag gag" is going easy on them. I prefer calling them "coward protection" laws.

Whether it is a group of factory farm workers beating a piglet with a shovel, teens bulling a perceived gay student or a basketball coach who makes $700,000 a year to perpetrate violence and fear on young players, cowards exist among us.

They can be stopped, which is why I felt the need to write about the Rutgers coach. He was fired. And then the athletic director resigned.

We have the power to be a voice for the voiceless and we have the power to stop these cowards.

Sometimes I may sound like a broken record when I write about getting involved, in connecting with your state legislator, in writing a letter to the editor or visiting your local chief of police.

These actions make a huge difference to those affected by the cowards.

Our silence strengthens the cowards. Our voices and actions can stop the cowards.

Thank you for reading!

Powerful words

We all have been there. Someone says something to us and it stings. Perhaps that was their intent, perhaps not. In this age of online communication it's difficult to figure out what someone "really meant" sometimes.

In many more cases, we can communicate face to face with individuals and have a little more power in how our conversation is received. Facial expression, hand gestures, whether we are smiling or not.

I wanted to write about the power of the spoken world because of a few conversations Mike and I have involved in, particularly in the vegan part of our community. It surprises me still that people will be on the verge of meeting us and will attempt to sum our entire existence up in a matter of minutes. We should do this. Have we thought of this? Why spend so much time on that? It's actually amazing that more often we find ourselves meeting people who really don't want to get to know us, or actually converse, yet want to immediately tell us what they think we should be doing.

I'm not sure if this is because we have this blog, because of our blog name, or because we try to be so open. The god thing is that we are not going anywhere. We are firmly and confidently rooted in the vegan community. What concerns me is how people who are just getting to know us as a community feel.

Are we a welcoming community? Or are we a judgmental community? I like to think that we are welcoming, that after all we represent the voices of the millions who cannot speak. We are their voice. Especially for those of us who are vegan for the animals.

Our blog is about building bridges, being a voice for the voiceless and spreading the message of love, compassion and equality. Those messages can easily get diluted if we spend more time talking or writing about what you should be doing than how we can all work together.

It's not always easy. The other day Mike and I just sat while someone we had just met shared their opinion. She didn't even know us!

And then there are the instances where we and our readers (I know this because of what our readers share with us) receive the wrath of people who don't want to open their minds or hearts to why we are vegan and how we believe in not wanting to harm any sentient being.

As I recently wrote to a reader, "it's important to not cross the line from being a queer vegan to becoming a queer vegan asshole while responding to hateful or disrespectful words".

Our words are powerful. In the same time frame that I am writing about I saw someone that has completely judged me for being gay. I don't want to be their best friend but I can approach them with kindness and say hi. I did. They smiled and engaged in conversation with me. They know that their judgment of gay people is unacceptable to me and that is what matters to me.

My goal is to use my spoken words to spread love, compassion and tolerance. To open minds. To be that voice for all of those sentient beings that suffer. I definitely do not want my words to harm others.

Thank you for reading. I really appreciate those who read our blog, support our blog and engage with us!

The 17 year vegan

This past January was my 17th anniversary of becoming vegan.

The final step for me was Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia ice cream. I had one more pint of it and then was ready.

For vegans, the world was completely different from today. For starters, there was no vegan Amy's mac-n-cheese. There was no Eat Pastry cookie dough and no Mercy for Animals. No vegan food blogs and no cool kale tshirts. There might have been some type of vegetarian festival happening somewhere but certainly not in my part of Virginia. (In fact, there was an annual animal conference in Norfolk, VA!)

The cowards who abuse and torture animals were still pretty much free to do so. It's only been in very recent times that felony charges have been brought against workers in the animal production world for cruelty to animals.

My reasons for becoming vegan were not radical, although many thought my decision to become vegan was radical. I simply had learned enough about what happens to animals that made me realize that I did not want to be part of anything that involved harming another living being. My thought process became one that surrounded the idea that every action I took would be one that would do as least harm as possible to other living beings.

I asked a lot of questions. I went to a lot of potlucks. I read a lot of books. Believe it or not, there was no internet (in my life at least) at that time. My learning about how to be a healthy vegan came from interacting with healthy vegans.

It's not perfect. And it grows. The vegan I am today is different from the vegan I was back in January of 1996. I know that although Pepsi and potato chips are vegan, I don't want to consume them all of the time. I have learned that veganism is a path, and my path of veganism does not have to look exactly like yours. I have learned that people go vegan for different reasons, and those that remain vegan for the most part are those who chose veganism because of the animals. I have learned that my veganism threatens other people, even though it really doesn't have to. And one of the big things I have learned, and experienced, is that becoming vegan is like becoming reborn in the food world. I have enjoyed so many different types of foods that I doubt I would have even considered trying had I not become vegan. The African Peanut Stew I made the other night is a great example.

I learned that I can get along with pretty much anyone out there, that we all have more in common than not. I also learned that harsh words, judgements and unkind actions towards me are unacceptable. One does not have to agree with me or even like me, but I don't give permission to those people to treat me any less. This includes everyone. I am not a Focus on the Family type of vegan or activist, meaning that I am not going to attack you just because we disagree. I am also not going to simply shut up. 

So at 46 (very close to 47) I am just as excited to be vegan as I was when I was 29 (yes I was 29 at one time). I  can only imagine what the next 17 years will bring for veganism and for animals who are tortured, beaten and live in fear just to become food. Or those who live their entire lives in a cage so that humans feel better about the medicines they pump into their bodies. Or the animals who die every day just because some coward has the capacity to kill them, usually without any consequences.

Meanwhile, I will continue on a path of compassion, tolerance, love and bridge building. I will continue to try to be a voice for the voiceless, all of the voiceless. I will continue to learn. And I will definitely continue to engage other in this world of blogging.

Thank you for reading. Will you please pass the kale?