Hello earthlings

My name's Susan.

I'm not paranoid about sharing personal details. We fear too much in this world and fear is a great way of controlling people and keeping people quiet. I like the accountablity of standing up for who you are and what you are - then again, it's easy for me to say when i live in rural England where we have to worry for comparatively very litte.

This is the first chatroom thing (not sure what you call it) i've ever been on so i apologise if i don't follow ettiquette - i don't intend to offend.

Only been a vegan for 2 years - like someone else said, it happened in stages... vegan diet first then the products, then clothes and i have to confess my beautiful dogs - winston and clementine only went vegan a couple of weeks ago. AND i have constant dilemas about animal stuff still around my house: still have a leather sofa (cringe), a desk with leather in-lay, loads of leather boots and stuff and a few wool jumpers - what did others do - chuck it all away or replace it with animal free stuff as it wore out?

I've digressed - i went veggie at age 12 after seeing a Green peace film about whale hunters - but sadly had a couple of lapses along the way after i surcame to social pressure in my 20's and wasn't confident enough in my own mind and position. but about 80% of my adult life has been veggie - but that's all in the past now and it's vegan here on in.

Very happily married for 7 years to Jamie who's also vegan. We've recently met a couple of other vegans but there aren't many round these parts - lots of fox hunters though - revolting sub-species! So basically it's really nice to chat with like-minded people.

I'm a forensic psychologist by trade - not really a counselor i'm afraid.

Earthlings has moved me deeply and given me an understanding of why i intuitively didn't feel it was right to eat animals. It's made me want to do more and i feel my life is changing; more rapidly moving towards a position i am happier with but it's no revolution, small steps.

Now i'm rambling - great to meet you all.

Susan

Oh Susan! You're wonderful! I love your opening about not being afraid. I feel the same way! So true about giving your power away by hiding yourself. I also share your value in personal accountability. That is my life's philosophy.

This isn't quite a chatroom by definition. You'd need to be "chatting" in live time to someone else (can be multiple people in the room) who's on the computer at the same time as you. This is a discussion forum. I love the medium. I've been able to communicate with a wide range of people across the world from so many different backgrounds, most of whom have seen the film and been affected by it. People are affected in many different ways, positive and negative, mild and strong. When they come here most people are very open about discussing animal rights on this forum after watching the shocking film. I don't get that openness and willingness in other situations. For many people like you have described, the film has changed their life.

You've "only" been vegan for two years? That's more than wonderful! Good for you. My veganism stages went in the same order as yours. My two dogs have been vegan for the last 2 years now. What to do with the stuff? I gave it away in stages. I found I did not want to wait for things to wear out for the cue to let go of the dead people's skins. It was weighing up the value of respect for animals (or at least the symbology of it) and the value of being frugal/not being wasteful. It's not wasteful if somebody else has it. I've never liked leather couches even before veganism. Now I try to avoid sitting on them in foreign environments. To describe what it feels like for me -it would be like sitting on human skin taken from slaves. I have a friend who had a personal "funeral" ritual in which she buried her leather products and offered some words to the animals who died for them.

It's great you could make the connection between killing whales and any other animal and then go vegetarian. Most people today feel for the whales when they watch the news but are morally confused when they eat fishes. It is terrific you could overcome your lack of confidence in being a vegan, and just be one. I think we've all felt that in our journey to becoming/learning how to be a vegan -like going to a restaurant and insisting on a vegan meal rather than acting like a difficult fussy inconvenience. And having the confidence to say that word vegan.

Aren't you lucky to have a vegan life partner! Perfect. I am lucky too. You can always host and advertise for a vegan potluck party to bring out all the vegans and vegetarians from the woodwork that you didn't know about. I have an email friend who lives on the East coast of Australia and she has "Vegan Tuesday" every week at somebody's house!

What a JOB Susan!!!

QUOTE:
Earthlings has moved me deeply and given me an understanding of why i intuitively didn't feel it was right to eat animals. It's made me want to do more and i feel my life is changing; more rapidly moving towards a position i am happier with but it's no revolution, small steps.

A very special time in your life.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Desert Girl

Desert Girl wrote:

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X2

It's great psychoanalyzing yourself, isn't it? I don't have any real background in psychology, only took a few classes in school, but I'm very observant and I have good abstract thinking abilities - a very fluid mind - so I can make connections that most others can't see or don't want to see. The only bad part is that I see all the areas where I'm not perfect, and being a perfectionist, that sometimes drives me crazy. But it's all good.

Hi Desert Girl
Thank you for you kind and welcoming response. You've made me think carefully about the stuff around the house. Some of it is getting donated this weekend - other things like the sofa might have to wait a little longer - but i do feel guilty everytime i sit on it. I don't know what possessed my to buy it - i think i used to just see leather as a fabric and not 'make the connection' to animals dying for it. When i did think about it i used to say to myself that the animal would have been killed anyway for food. Stupid, ignornant and selfish. I have some considerable making up to do.

Thanks for your encouragement.

Have a great weekend.

Susan.x

Hi Susan,

I was a vegan for 8 years until I stopping wearing leather (I didn't realise that animal products that we wore were a part of veganism) and so I used to buy leather shoes and leather saddles. My mother even gave me a pink jacket with a pink rabbit fur trim. I thought that the book "A Diet For a New America" I read that made me go vegan was all I needed to know about veganism and so I never sought out to educate myself nor ever know the definition of a vegan. I even ate honey. I did not know it was a part of being vegan for such a long time, or why it was even an issue.

The reason I wore and bought leather is because I believed it was a by-product of the meat industry and that buying it created no extra demand. Now I know better that it is not a by-product, that the demand for leather drives cattle farming (not just meat), that it gives at least 10% of profits to meat industry, that wearing it advertises to others that you support killing animals and that it is acceptable, that simply wearing leather and fur whether you bought it or not is immoral (just as it would be if you wore human skin clothes).

The reason I wore the rabbit fur trim jacket and the rabbit felt Aussie Akubra hat is because I believed that killing feral populations of rabbits in Australia was the right thing to do. Now I know otherwise. Whether rabbits cause damage to the ecology is irrelevant when it comes to ethics. I had so many belief systems that lingered around well into my vegan years. I didn't realise just how confused I was. It wasn't until I met my life partner Jeff that I was able to get clear. Having someone to talk to with a background of 8 years in philosophy came in handy for me.

In the early part of our relationship I was making the bed one day when Jeff noticed that the mattress was lined with wool, written on the label. He was shocked and refused to sleep in the bed for a few nights. I didn't see what the fuss was about and thought he was being melodramatic! "I'm not sleeping on the backs of slaves" he exclaimed! I soon got an education in sheep torture and slavery -it's appalling. Jeff marched off to buy a new mattress with his next paycheque. It wouldn't take long before I became equally "melodramatic" and "fussy" -about violence that is. Yes, vegans are fussy. Fussy about violence. And it's true -vegans really do live a deprived life. Deprived of causing violence.

susanbennett wrote:

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AND i have constant dilemas about animal stuff still around my house: still have a leather sofa (cringe), a desk with leather in-lay, loads of leather boots and stuff and a few wool jumpers - what did others do - chuck it all away or replace it with animal free stuff as it wore out?

Generally speaking I go by B, replace as needed/desired. As DG mentions it's hard not to want to get rid of things once you know how they are manufactured. Oddly enough I avoided leather, wool, etc. (and animal ingredients in personal care products, and products tested on animals) long before I gave up egg and dairy in my diet. So many roads lead to the same spot, eh?

Welcome to the forum!