Vegan is the moral baseline, not the final frontier
Photo Credit: @bobbysud on Instagram
I’m prepared
To lose a few subscribers
On this one
Although I hope not to
In fact, I hope those of you
Who are the most active
In the vegan community
Might be willing
To give this some thought
And let me know
What you come up with
Believe me when I say
That this is a long ways
From how I used to feel
Just a few years ago
That’s not to say
That how I feel now
Is any better or worse
This is just my current perspective
And I'm sharing it
In hopes
That it will add to yours
First, let me just say
That the work vegan activists do
Is far from easy
And I don’t just mean
The 'external' work of activism
I mean the internal, emotional work
There is much trauma
In our community
And for very good reason
The suffering that animals
On this planet endure
At the hands of humans
Is truly beyond
The realm of comprehension
And I’d like each
And every one of you
To know
That your pain
Is a sign of your humanity
It’s not something
To try and hide
On the contrary
The ability to feel deeply
Is a beautiful thing
And as vegans
Isn’t that what we want?
For other people to feel more deeply?
To feel for those
Who don’t walk or talk
Or look like them?
To finally make the (vegan) connection?
I know for myself
It’s that disconnect
In the world
That sometimes
Breaks me down
And yes
At times
Still fills me with rage
But to take that pain
And turn it into a weapon
To use on other people
Or social media
As a place
To take and essentially dump
All our pain and trauma
Doesn't necessarily serve
The animals
And I don't believe
It serves us either
Shame does not open people up
To compassion
The energy of anger
— if not properly harnessed —
Can cause more pain
And disconnection
Than it cures
And — whether it’s intentional
or not —
Inducing repeat-trauma
In people
Is not our path
To a better world
The way I see it
The most direct path
To a more compassionate world
"out there"
Is for us to embody
The compassion
We want to see in others
"in here"
In all that we do
In all that we share
In all that we speak
Yes, it’s very challenging at times
But isn’t that the work?
Isn't our job
To keep improving
And evolving
As Souls in a human body?
Do I believe that being vegan
Is a part of that evolution?
Yes - I absolutely do
But I think
It's just as important
For us to remember
That we ALL came here
To do our personal work
Being vegan
Doesn’t exempt us
From this process
If we’re doing it for the animals
Then we need to do what is effective
If we’re doing it for the animals
Then we need to keep in mind
That others are not less than us
And that — karmically speaking —
The corrections are alway made
Whether in this life
Or the next
However imperfect we may all be
We are still fellow earthlings
And ultimately
We are here
To walk each other
Back home
To our collective growth,
Tara x
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