I am really curious and surprised to see how my ideas and feelings have changed in the last 4 months. I am afraid at times I may seem too evangelistic about eating vegan, and I am trying not to sound preachy in any way, because that is not how I feel.
I do feel like my eyes have been opened to another world. but after 40 plus years of eating meat, I definitely don’t feel superior or whatever other attributes are attributed to vegans. In fact, I’m not completely vegan in any way, I am still seeing where I end up on this path. At this point I eat about 75% vegan I would say.
One thing I find very interesting is how, when we are children, we are told that it is okay to kill and eat animals for food. Most kids see a disconnect in how animals are viewed and treated. I read this tweet today from a fellow parent with a 3 year old daughter:
Me: “Now, this is just a story, see. In the real world, we don’t *kill* people.” Daughter: “Right. Just animals.” Me: “Uh… Right.”
My own daughter begged me for a long time not to eat animals, and I put her off because in my mind she was immature and had not evolved her understanding fully enough to realize that there are shades of gray in loving some animals as pets or in some settings, while eating others. I’ve listed the reasons earlier on why I am not eating meat, and it is much more complex than just love for animals. I will say that Clio started me questioning my way of thinking, even though I was raised as a meat eater. Children definitely shape us as much as we shape them. While in the past, we always allowed Clio to have her own vegetarian option, now our whole family has slowly joined her, including Gavin.
Wherever you are in your thoughts, isn’t it interesting that as children, most of us have to be taught that eating animals is okay?