Don't you just sometimes yearn for a simple life? A life free from feeling the karmic weight of every decision you make? Often we find ourselves out enjoying a most wonderful afternoon, you've lost track of all time and the next thing you know you've been out for hours and suddenly you're freakin' hungry! And what could be worse than being hungry? Being vegan and being hungry? Nope, being vegan, being hungry... and having a craving!
On this day, a cold but sunny winter's day spent in the snow covered outdoors, pub food was the craving. Beer, a veggie burger and fries to be exact. The first thing a vegan needs to know is where to find a veggie burger. Next to a diner, pub's are about as down home, american comfort food as you can find anywhere. So what are the chances they will have a veggie burger? About the same as them not having a sporting event on one of their flat screen TV's! So, in typical fashion, the first Pub was a swing and a miss.
Half an hour later though, we were sitting at a table looking at some delicious home baked bread and some of this particular restaurants famous dipping sauce: Olive oil, crushed red pepper, and... parmesan cheese!!! Wha wha... Not vegan, but I KNOW it's good, I used to eat it all the time! I'm hungry, and I'm imagining how good a little dip in that cheesy oil would taste. And yes, I could easily chalk this up as a veganish moment. I've done it before, and odds are I'll probably do it again. After all, veganish moments do have a way of presenting themselves over and over.
It's funny that in moments like those I'm not thinking about the inhumane treatment of cows. I'm not thinking about the environmental impact of daily farm's. Nor am I thinking about how much cheese this restaurant goes through in a day, a week or a year and the impact that has on the all the factors that make up my belief system. All I'm thinking is I'm hungry and that taste good! And sometimes that thought might be all it takes. I'm totally enjoying the moment, I am with friends, we are happy and a little dipped bread would mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. So, to dip or not to dip? So, my veganish friends, is that really the question?
Just over a couple of years ago I made the choice to change the way I think about and interact with the world around me. I didn't make that decision lightly. I had committed to this road before and if I was to do it again, this time I would remain on it for good. It took time, and I changed profoundly as that time went by. On this occasion the reflection of my journey got me through a moment that most people wouldn't even give a second thought to. Seriously, unless your in Weight Watchers or some other nuevo diet plan, how many people sit there and wonder about the dire consequences of dipping their bread into some oil & Parmesan cheese?
No, it's not always simple to live vegan...ish. It forces you to be mindful about your decisions quite often. To be aware that your choices have consequences no matter how seemingly small they are. It will make you feel like an outsider among your closest friends and family. There will be times when you'll want to laugh with both the blissfully and selectively ignorant while wolfing down goopy, cheese laden nachos. It's not always about being healthy, preserving the environment, or making the world safe for animals. It's about what your ideal version of a society should be, and the battle that ideal fights with your human nature. Human nature just wants you to be an accepted part of society no matter how slow to change it is. It wants you to park on Main St. and walk into the Anyplace America Pub, receive a pat on the back, and be just like everybody else. Every day is a choice, and you can choose to be your ideal self, or the self that needs to conform in the arms of comfort. The question really is, who are you today?
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