Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World

I’m spending less time with my dad nowadays. He seems to want to catch up with me every Saturday and Sunday, but if I see him every day on the weekends, I will never have time to do what I want to do. I have a dream of becoming a digital nomad one day, so I need to spend time over the weekend teaching myself new skills, such as how to code. (I am currently using a site called Codecademy to learn how to code.)

There is a lot of work that I need to do, so I have tried to cut down how much time I spend with my father. Over the last two weeks, my dad has invited me for lunch four times, and I have rejected two times, usually on a Saturday.

I had lunch with my father today. It’s tough being vegan in a non-vegan world. When you see animal slaughter videos, you realize how much hell the animals must go through, and I feel like I need to do everything I can to help these animals. The problem begins with people buying animal products. If people stop buying animal products, the animal exploitation industry would be starved of funds, and they would not have enough money to cause more harm to animals. However, most people just don’t care. I told my dad that there is no need to eat meat, but he just made excuses that vegan meat is too expensive, and if instead of eating meat he eats beans, it wouldn’t taste good. This disturbed me because the suffering of animals clearly doesn’t matter to him. Something as trivial as the taste of food can influence whether he decides to slaughter a cow. It bothered me so much.

Everyone is different, I suppose. People have different values. I can’t really blame my father. That’s just what he thinks. I remember meeting up with a vegan friend a few weeks ago who told me that it’s important that vegans do not isolate themselves from the world. Veganism needs to go mainstream if it is to be successful. But I find it so difficult to be around meat eaters. I have always been different to others. Now that I am vegan, I am even more different.

I'm not too sure what I should do in the future, but I see two options. One option involves retiring early, buying a place in the country, and retreating into the wilderness where I can be left in peace. I will be like a modern-day hermit. The other option is the opposite. Rather than retire early, I can continue to be integrated into society. I will continue to work, continue to be a consumer, and continue to try to make a difference to society from within. You cannot change the system if you are outside the system.