NAMASTE I had to post this for it rings heavy in my heart.Years ago when i was turnded on to the whole vegi way of life there were times that i would just walk away thinking i do not want to be like that.Being one who condems those that eat meat or think they are better than those who do not.Well trew the years of being vegan and now going to a raw food diet i look back and think how can the message be spead with out turning people off.We Eat to live not Live to eat.With that said it breaks down so many egos and a better outlook for leading a healthy life.Just my thoughts.
People will come to it when they're ready. You can't evangelise vegetarianism. Just be willing to talk about it in an open and non-judgemental fashion when people you know are curious and ready to be receptive.
I think it is more important to spread the word to people than to wait for them. If no one hears about reasons for being a vegetarian, where will they get their motivation? The way society grows is by spreading ideas and information. I like pritams idea of finding a way around peoples egos rather than waiting. You can wait forever for something to happen and it never will. Do something to make something happen.
I don't agree with you on that point! As there are vegetarians "out there", and not few, people will hear reasons as soon as they're interested and ask. If you just tell everybody, ignoring whether he wants it or not, people will hear, but not listen, and consider you preachy (and all veg*ns with you - that's the injust thing about it: people who belong to a minority are often seen as a kind of representatives of their group and other people with the same attitude will be judged be the behaviour of a single one, which is a great responsibility not all members of that minority can see, as it seems), be turned off by everything that sounds veg*n in any way and not listen to the next one who maybe has a different - better - kind of approach to the subject.
rain_in_summer, excellent point! pritam and doktorAtomik, too! when i tell people i'm veg*n, there are inevitably questions... most common are "why?" and "what do you eat?" both of which i am happy to answer, as long as it doesn't turn into a raging debate over the "why" of it all. when people ask questions they are definitely going to be receptive (to some degree) to the answers. i won't force feed information to people who aren't interested (or choose to be ignorant).
with those thoughts in mind, what do you guys think about raising kids as vegos? I know that one day, in the far off future i would want to raise my kids as veg*ans - yet with people my age I would never dream of chastising them for eating meat (the whole 'I don't wanna be preachy' thing). It seems hypocratical, yet both outcomes would be the results of good intentions. Anyway, what do others think?
If you teach them other forms of non-violence and kindness are you being a hypocrite? I think that teaching children the good things to do when they are at home is most the important thing.
It's sickening to hear people say, "We are more evolved, we are the best, more intelligent, and besides it's the foooood chain man." because we don't have the right to kill things to satisfy a taste. We only need to eat to live, and eating meat is a pleasure people overlook.
i cant agree with preaching to any degree. especially after last semester when a prof did it to our class. mind you, even as avege in the class i was getting offended. its just as obnoxious as if someone were to hound me with the advantages of being a meat eater. i dont want to hear it and i wont believe it. thats all it comes down to. if someone is going to be a vege they probably are interested already. i dont know a single person who had no interest in being vege and turned because people kept telling them why they should. if someone asks me questions about my diet i'll answer. i dont preach. i wont tell if they dont want to hear. and i expect the same in return. any lifestlye, including ones diet, is their personal choice. i dont inflict my beliefs on others, i expect the same courtesy from them. i dont mind discussing/debating my beliefs, its just that theyre mine. they dont have to be yours. i'll share i wont enforce. ever. im not trying to insult those who have said they talk about their vegetarianism/veganism to everyone. im just sharing my opinion/
it's interesting you say that, because here we have a tv commercial which encourages people to eat red meat. There's a whole bunch of guys dressed up as butcher's dancing around and chanting "iron iron" like hare krishnas. Now ive never found that to be so much offensive as just amusing.... not sure how the hare krishnas feel about it tho! Also there's been numerous ad campaigns in the past which claim that all sorts of horrible things happen to women and children who don't eat enough red meat and suffer from all sorts of horrible iron deficiencies. it doesn't inspire me personally to start eating meat because i've done my research and know better than to be led astray by *false* advertising. But i'd be curious to know who funded these campaigns... now, i've never seen a commercial which endorses the consumption of organic broccoli
I think raising children to be vegan is perfectly fine. In fact, very young children naturally lean toward this. Young children find it very difficult to chew and swallow meat, and often for years they won't hardly eat it because they don't like the taste or the texture, etc. No matter what we feed our children, it needs to be nutritious... a healthy vegan lifestyle with plenty of energy producing carbs is perfect for the fast paced energetic young child. When my grandson is at my house (he was born to and raised in my house to the age of 14 months, and just recently he and his Mommy moved out) he eats what I eat: vegetarian. He LOVES it, especially my "meat-free loaf". I serve that with organic brown basmati and some kind of fresh squash or green vegetables and he thinks he's in heaven... forget the meat with this kid! Honestly, you can put meat and veggies on a plate and set that in front of him and he will eat all the veggies before he'll even think of touching the meat. I think it is natural.I use a lot of nutritional yeast in my cooking, as well as a lot of soy and different beans, so the protein is there.
I do both. I eat to live. Obviously, I must eat, or I would die. but I also live to eat. Much of my life revolves around food, and there's nothing I like more than eating, be it a scrumptious falafel-in-pita or just bread on its own.
