I was going to share this story from work this week and a compliment someone gave me, then the more I thought about it, the more I realized the entire conversation we had was a dig at veganism. Ha. I’ll still share it though.
Long story short (hopefully), I was talking about Thanksgiving with a couple coworkers. Let’s call them Marge and Lisa. Marge said to me, while making a face, “oh, you make that vegan thing that’s shaped like a turkey?”
I ignored the face and tone and shared that yes I was, and was excited about it, then asked about their meal plan.
But Lisa said “Did I know you were vegan? I don’t think I did!”
And Marge responded with, “Yeah, she is but hasn’t made it her whole identity.”
This is the part I thought was a compliment. I don’t want it to be my whole identity. I don’t want it to be the first thing people think about when they think about me. I don’t want someone to think about what I eat unless we are going to be sharing a meal (or they’re surprising me with a treat).
I don’t want to be the asshole vegan. Gawd, there are so so many, and they are freaking unbearable.
So I told them, “Yeah, I am! And thanks, I don’t want it to be my whole identity. I just do it for the animals.”
Then Marge said “well lucky them.”
Sigh.
I have a lot of other thoughts about someone being bothered by a thing I do that doesn’t affect them at all, but I promised I’d keep this short! So, happy Friday! Enjoy whatever you eat today!
I think people are defensive because they know eating meat is wrong, but they do it because it’s “normal” in their worlds. I am not a vegan, but I can appreciate people who take ethical stances and maintain them.