I once was an accepting animal industry user, sadly a staunch supporter for way too many a year. Fortunately I’ve since chosen an alternative lifestyle. Yes that’s correct, I’m a vegan. But ever more important is I’ve not, and will not ever forget what it’s like on “that” side of town. Foggy, dirty, stinky, a lot less healthy? It’s a bad scene…
But would it be better to deny myself the memories of how I acted, thought and felt? And yet an even better question being why should I allow the “practice” I once was a willing participant in to continue to “eat” at my conscience (emphasis added for, well emphasis)? Guilt? Shame? Sadness? Hypocrisy? While all valid and oddly relevant, one very important fact remains.
EVERYTHING I’ve experienced in this life has contributed to the person that sits here today (life is perverse in as much as it is funny).
That recollection provides me feelings I felt back then versus thoughts I currently think. Therefore allowing me to connect the circumstances that find me here, all the way from there (not to make excuses, there isn’t one). I need prior experiences to give what I’ve accomplished it’s meaning. And however unsettling it should be for me to write about;
I vow never to forget…
It was what it is…
I cannot change my past…
It must be understood and accepted to make being vegan stick for life…