One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

There is a lot of talk about the difference between being vegan or vegetarian. Vegan blogs, etc. talk about how a vegetarian is at best deluding themselves and at worst hypocritical. I do agree that being vegetarian is only going part way toward the goal of being compassionate and caring of animal rights. Many vegetarians currently, and I was in this group in the past, believe that milk and eggs don't harm the animal so that makes consuming them ok. It's absolutely not ok - the dairy and egg industry are no better than the meat industry and in some cases are even worse. However, I'm not prepared to wage war against vegetarians as I strive to become vegan. Those that limit their intake of animal products are taking steps in the right direction. I like seeing that many people are eating less meat even though they aren't ready to become vegetarian. The flexitarian movement is a positive sign as well. Baby steps, folks - baby steps.

A must read: Humane Meat

Ok - the truth is while I want to figure out how to use this blog to help me plan and formulate some of my goals, it's not happening the way I'd hoped. Perhaps I need to develop the work habits that the writer gurus talk about and not worry abou the blog making sense in a linear way. Afterall, blogs are in reverse chronological order, which doesn't make much sense from the get go. I'm this way with notebooks, too. I want them to have sections to make sense in categories, but then get flumoxed with the order and number of pages, then revert back to keeping a stack of scibbled notes. I'll figure something out - or not meet my goals, I guess...

I've been a vegetarian for many years. I can remember when I was about 10 that I told my mom that I didn't want to eat meat anymore. She was very unhappy with that statement and said no (but then anything I did that was different even if slightly so felt like betrayal to mom). I pretty much skipped meat when I could, then when I went to college, I stopped eating meat. When I got pregnant with Chris I did crave beef heart and pickles and did indulge. Over the years, there have been some bad eating habits that developed, some that lingered way too long. No need to rehash why the bad habits came about, or to beat myself up for being influenced. At any rate, at this juncture I'm much better with the quality of my food and I'm happy about that. I am working on becoming more vegan, and it's quite a challenge. This letter from Thich Nhat Hanh explains why. While our society makes it tough, I'm through with blaming myself for the limits placed on me. I really get frustrated with people who sneer at vegetarians and vegans who they claim are being "holier than thou" through their choices, make being successful at veganism nearly impossible, then criticizing the "failures". It's also about being puzzeled and pained to know that so many people have no compassion for the animals they eat. It's really quite remarkable the level of ignorance. This article from Tigers and Strawberries is very good, very thought provoking, and profoundly sad. I'll write more about this later...