Wednesday, November 21, 2007

One year as a vegan.

I just hit my one year anniversary as a vegan. Honestly, I don't remember the date exactly but it was sometime a few days before Thanksgiving last year.

It was a number of things that made me decide to finally be vegan for real: not being able to tell the difference between the vegan ice cream and the regular ice cream from Scoops, the way Lilou looked at me when she was getting stitches taken out after being attacked by another dog (who was not a pittie, btw), checking out Vegan with a Vengeance from the library and not wanting to return it to the point that I owed like $15 in fines on it, hating my job and my disgusting fast food freak co-workers and wanting to find an excuse to get out of the Friday pizza meetings, being told that my vegan desserts were better than conventional ones, reading Diet for a New America. All of these things happened within a few weeks of each other and once I made the decision to be vegan, that was that. No turning back. My husband joined me within a month.


It's not just the food (although the food is forking awesome!). It's not just about health (I mean really, look at this blog, look at what I eat, I'd fry my oatmeal if it wasn't so messy!). It's about having all those "I love animals!" feelings I've had my whole life finally mean something. When people ask me why I'm vegan, I don't think I can ever fully get across to them how amazing it feels to live my beliefs and stop being part of a system I think is wrong. It's better than all the jackfruit and vegan cupcakes and the regularity that a high fiber diet brings.


When I went vegan, I was only the mama of one dog--the ever docile half-lab, half-pit Lilou. If I hadn't have gone vegan I don't think I would have adopted the troubled boys, Buster and Bootsy. My veganism and my pitbull life can't be separated. I wouldn't have one without the other. Saying no to the products of pain and suffering isn't a popular thing to do, and neither is adopting a throwaway "dangerous" breed dog. Deciding to not take the easy way out when it came to food only encouraged me to take on the tougher task of two dogs who were headed for the kill room. I sharpen my bullsh*t-fighting skills every day whether it be dispelling some myth about how much protein a person needs or whether pit bulls are good guard dogs or babykillers (the answer is "no" to both). Being vegan makes me a better pitbull mama and being a pitbull mama definitely makes me a tougher vegan.

It's been four months since Bootsy came home with us and I still get weepy sometimes when he accomplishes something new (like waiting patiently at the door and not barking at other dogs in the park) and looks at me with his eager-to-please eyes. The fact that he is here, living and breathing and going crazy for peanut butter, reminds me that you have to take action and change the world yourself. You can't wait for someone else to do it for you, because it ain't gonna happen. I tried to find Bootsy a home, a rescue group, anyone who would take him. I thought that surely someone else would see that he was a dog worth saving. When his time was up, I'm the one who got the call and I was only person standing between him and the euth needle. I can't wait for someone else to do something any more.

You can complain about world hunger, environmental destruction, and animal cruelty and wait for someone else to do something about it or you can take the first step in knocking those things out: go vegan. Choosing to go vegan and then choosing to rescue a pitbull like Bootsy are the most empowering things I've ever done. No matter what else I go on to do in my life, my veganism and my pitbull experience are the foundation. They make me strong, confident, and ready to fight for what's right. They also give me a satisfaction and joy I wish I had found years ago.

Since this is a total talk-about-your-feelings post, I give you a picture of sensitive New Age Buster:

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