I consider myself a vegan. I do, however, sport a few nonvegan items. I have beads carved from bone that were a gift and are important to me in a bracelet on my wrist. I have a leather patch on my boot because it was the best fabric handy and my boots were dying and I had to walk what could have been miiiiles. I have vertebrae in my hair and in a bracelet on my wrist....these came from a dead opossum (huh is it possum or opossum?) that I found along train tracks fully decayed (I boiled and bleached them though heh). I've been ragged on a little because of these things, and was just wondering what you guys thought of it? Is it very hypocritical of me? Just looking for honest opinions I hope this isn't too similar to the thing about the jacket...I didn't pay for any of these things!
i get crap for wearing leather shoes which i've had since before i went veg.....and alot of other things i wear like my down jacket or my leather rope necklace....but those things were bought second hand and i hate having to always explain that to people and then they wanna know why it being second hand makes any difference so then i have to explain that....... i say so long as you are doing you absolute best to not support the use and exploitation of animals its all good.....thats what its about
The animal is dead. It was a gift to you. Either it was killed for it (which I doubt) or it was killed for some other reason and the bones were salvaged. In either case, those bones should be put to good use. There's nothing you can do about it anymore except ensure that whatever reason the animal died for, is at the very least honoured. Since I don't know the details, I can't really judge. I say, if you could have made it without an excrutiating amount of discomfort, I wouldn't have bought leather patches. If you thought it'd make the journey much more difficult and dangerous, maybe, but still in most situations there are ways you can avoid using leather to patch a boot. An animal was killed, whether by accident or whatever, using as many of the parts of the animal for whatever reason you can, that is a good thing. It's much like the Indian philsophy of using the bones and skin of creatures along with the meat when you hunt an animal. And give it a proper burial, etc. I don't think that I personally dig vertebrate, but to each his own, and as long as the animal wasn't killed specifically for those vertebrate, it's just you doing what you can with the remains of an animal. I myself have a leather belt (plain, for formal dress; I also have a PVC studded belt, cruelty free) which I use with suits and such ... I know the animal was killed for the belt, but it seems to me that there is nothing I could have done about that, so the best I can do is use the belt for as long as it lasts, and ensure that the reason the animal died is not completely wasted. I also have leather boots, which are my only pair of boots, and have lasted me for 3 years while still being in great condition. Similarly, I plan to use those boots for as many more years as they will functionally last. And henceforth afterwards I will buy heavy duty cruelty-free boots.
I am positive the animal wasn't killed for the beads, I didn't buy the patch and never would! It was given to me. I very much needed something waterproof because the upper parts were tearing completely from the sole, the area that needed patched had to be very sturdy and protective. That material was all that was around, my friend had it in his bag. I agree about the bones though perhaps I should have buried the rest that I did not use. The animal was just killed by a train...now that I think back I do sort of feel it was disrespectful to take it's vertebrae and leave it there on the tracks! I really regret that now...
I also have a couple of leather items.... a jacket I bought in a charity shop before I was vegetarian let alone vegan along with boots and a belt. I wear them now, but I wouldn't go and buy more leather products. But at the same time, if I was talking to people about the cruelty of factory farms, hunting and furfarms, I'd feel bad doing that whilst wearing them, so as a result I now wear them sparingly enough.
Well I am vegetarian and not vegan (although I use cruelty free products mostly and avoid dairy and eggs).....burt i have a pair of doc martens and when I do go vegan I will keep those as long as they last and also any family heirloom type stuff i will keep....for example my paw paw died in '99 and someone would have to be crazy to think i would get rid of his leather jacket....things like that I will keep forever.
I totally agree. Besides, leather is only a byproduct of the cattle trade, so by not consuming cattle products your affecting the leather industry too. If people all stopped eating beef, there would be very little leather produced anymore. Fur is different though ain't it, cos those animals are farmed specifically for their coats.
Out of interest is it other vegans who get onto you about this or is it carnivores? I don't see the problem with what you've done. The leather patch was a necessity either that or you were going barefoot. The vertebrae was from an animal who was obviously milled out of it by a train so he wasn't killed intentionly. Don't worry about it. There's people out there who eat meat twice a day everyday and don't give shit and you're worrying about a little leather patch and some bones from an animal who got hit by a train. Don't beat yourself up about it and don't listen to anyone else who says anything about it.
I have a leather bracelet, that was given to me as a gift. I have a leather belt, which was also given to me as a gift. I have a coat that has some wool on it (not 100% wool though) that WASN'T a gift, but I bought it from a thrift store. Very old jacket, so this animal had been dead for years. Plus, I wasn't directly paying the maker of the jacket, rather a thrift store (value village) which takes part of it's profits to helping and clothing third world nations. Things like that are acceptable, I think. Really, the point of veganism, at least in my eyes, is to cut down on the amount of suffering as much as you can. Shit happens, and you can't always be perfect. The bones and stuff though, I think is fine. The animal didn't die for that reason, you were just helping part of the animal fulfill a purpose. I say, good on you.
I think, if you don't feel right keeping something like that, the best thing is to make sure that someone else is getting use out of it, instead of wasting it. I had a suede jacket that I bought when I was 13 or 14, before I went veg, and I just did NOT feel right having it anymore, it was like TOO MUCH leather for me lol...and I couldnt wear it anymore, so I felt pretty wasteful. So, I gave it to my friend Chelsea who fell in love with it when she saw it hanging in my closet collecting dust. That took so much weight off my shoulders that it's almost pathetic.... But I still have a few odds and ends left that I haven't fully used or gotten rid of quite yet. I have a pair of Steve Madden leather clogs that I cannot part with... and a pair of WOOL clogs as well, that I love too much to let go of, but in reality thats pretty much all I have left aside from possibly some OLD non-vegan makeup that I probably shouldnt even be using anymore its so old, lmao. I just slowly worked my way into going animal product free, like that. Its easy to take it out of your diet, but less easy to start using and purchasing other vegan items such as shoes and random things like makeup and such.... But, overall it's MUCH better to get your use out of it, and wear the stuff until it's done for, than to waste it. And if you feel badly about it, make sure it gets use from someone else, in my opinion. Just like, I would be more disgusted by a person who orders a steak dinner and takes one bite out of it, and wastes the rest, than I would be by a person who orders a steak dinner and eats the whole thing. I just hate it when people waste things PERIOD, ESPECIALLY when a creature's life was taken to obtain whatever it is thats being wasted/used.
Bekka's an Eagle Scout. I agree with this. Burying the dead was something invented by man, before that we all just rotted on the surface. No need to bury it, it's fulfilling it's purpose.
I have leather boots, but I don't see a problem with throwing them out just because I've turned vegan. Leather is only a byproduct of the meat industry. If everyone stopped wearing and buying leather then the cattle would still be killed, but if everyone stopped eating meat, then they wouldn't be killed. Its all about practicality and individual views.
Burying the dead is something invented by man, but imagine the problems we'd have nowadays if we just left them on the ground?!
Anyone who approves of brand new vegan products over reusing leather goods is a HYPOCRITE. Esp. if it's brand new pvc. That leather patch your friend had, my suspicions are that it was something he found on the ground, picked it up and put it in his bag. If that's the case than think of it as salvaged goods instead of an animal product.
