Last night we had our monthly board of directors meeting
of the Vegetarian Society of El Paso, of which I am proud to be
president and webmaster.
Vegetarian Society of El Paso
http://utminers.utep.edu/vsep/
Our mission is to convert the omnivores to vegetarianism
and the vegetarians to veganism. It has always given me a euphoric
feeling to be surrounded by fellow vegans, to be in the company of
people who think like me about animal suffering, human health and the
environment.
My feeling of peace, well being and camaraderie began to
fade a bit last night when the vice president, the secretary and the
founder of the society began talking about how they are moving towards
organic raw foodism. Suddenly I felt out of step. I felt that they were
moving too far away to be able to communicate with people who thought
the four food groups were Frozen, Canned, Junk and Fast. They joked
about a possible future when they would turn their noses up at people
who were merely vegans. I know they were just joking, but I did once
again start to feel like a StRanger in a Strange Land.
I realized I would have to maintain my position as a
beer and wine drinking, mostly cooked foods vegan in order to be a
liaison with the heathens. I understand the impetus which drives organic
and raw food advocates. For a vegan, "organic" mean that a lot less
creatures are killed with pesticides to produce our food. It is much
better for the environment and for human health. And I don't mind
spending the few extra dollars for organic vegetables and to play havoc
with the giant corporations who want to sell us heavily processed foods.
Raw foods impart a lot more enzymes and nutrients. But
I'm sorry, I'm not ready to change my food preparation skills to enable
me to live a couple of years longer.
Sci-Fi Scenario for the future: I believe that human
immortality will be discovered soon (after a short bit of mostly
painless animal testing, let's say). Ok, so what? Is this the reason we
are all living as long as we can? Running to catch up with the
Immortality Train? No, probably not. Most of us realize that there are
way too many humans mucking up the planet and making humans live forever
will only muck things up worse.
Should I tell my vegan friends that I am not only
pro-choice, but pro-abortion, pro capital punishment (unless
administered by George W. Bush, Potentate of Texas, clown prince,
perhaps soon to be U.S. President) and that I am against Save The
Children and all other save children organizations because I believe
that humans are a cancer on the planet? No probably not.
But damn, guys, get a grip. We don't want to look like
nut cases. Last year I joked that I was glad there were Fruitarians
because it made us vegans look at lot more mainstream (And I got a few
letters from fruitarians about that).
Let's keep the basic goals in mind.....
Are we Vegan because we are building up good Karma so
that good things will happen to us? No probably not.
Why are we vegan? Because it's the right thing to do.
For the environment, for future generations, for the elimination of
suffering of the animals. Go Vegan.
Go on to Warning
Signs
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