pick up your sword and find your battlefield.

I think pretty much all of you know that I'm vegan. And quite a few of you know, that I'm a weird vegan. What I mean by that? Ask Laura.

She can tell you stories about how I yell at my computer out of rage "I hate all these stupid vegan posts on Facebook!" or those times when she made steaks with her boyfriend and I walked in the kitchen going "yum, this looks delicious."

Probably not the reactions you'd expect from a vegan.

Now what I want to talk about today, is why I am this way and why it's important to find our own battlefields.

My veganism doesn't come from an animal rights perspective and definitely not because I don't like meat. I loved meat. I loved the taste, the texture, everything. That's why I still look at prepared meat and say it looks and smells good. I know, it's a piece of a once alive animal, we shouldn't eat it at all. We should stop looking at meat, milk and eggs and call it food.

But I'm not here to deny that I ate all these things for 21 years and liked it. I've been an omnivore. Fact. 

I became vegan because I've never been happy with my diet and because the meat and dairy industry is messed up. Even if you put away the fact that they mistreat animals, it's still a horrible business. And that's the side I come from.

It makes me angry how much soy and water is necessary to produce a small amount of meat while millions of people on this world are dying from starvation. I'm upset how they pollute the earth and how they manipulate consumers. 

There are people who say they would never go vegan, because humans have always been eating meat and that's why it's normal to eat it. I'm not going to discuss this commonly used argument here. 

But normal or not, you have to be blind to tell me that you think that it is okay what the meat industry is doing. They are not only killing animals, they are killing this planet. 

That's my reason for a vegan life style. And whatever your reason is to go vegan, it's a good one. Whether you don't like meat anyway, you want to save animals or because of similar reasons to mine, it's all good. You're doing something good for this planet. A tiny step to save it.

The only thing that worries me a bit, is the massive hype around veganism that's going on right now. No matter what kind of magazine you buy, there's an article about veganism in it. Every bookstore has vegan cookbooks, most of them even put them on display. 

As a vegan I highly appreciate it, because I love cooking and if there's a weakness I have, it's buying too many books, and a lot of people learn about veganism that way. What worries me, is that it's going to be a trend for a lot of people. They do it, because everyone is doing it, but they never get the point of the whole thing. And that's not what it is about.

Veganism is not a diet, it's a lifestyle. It's such a massive step and seriously, if there isn't a very good reason, everyone who goes vegan and then goes back to not being vegan is stupid. It’s the decision to take action in saving this planet, the environment, millions of living creatures, and to mess with the economy,…I could go on. I don’t think there is a way back once you took this step. And that’s only for good.

In a perfect world, everyone would be vegan.

So I highly appreciate it when people decide to go vegan. And still I accept it, when you say that you won't.

Now, that probably causes some contradiction. But it isn't in my opinion. Let me explain.

In a perfect world, everyone would be vegan.

In a perfect world, there would be no racism.

There would be no homophobia.

There would be no slavery.

There would be no rape.

There would be no need for feminism.

There would be no air pollution.

Countries wouldn’t dump their trash into the ocean.

There wouldn’t be any wars and riots.

People wouldn’t litter streets and river banks.

People wouldn’t judge people by their appearance.

Shall I keep going? Or did you get the point?

In a perfect world you would do every possible thing to stop all the terrible things happening in this world. But you don’t. Noone does.

I'm proud of every single person who fights. Feminism, LGBT rights, human rights, animal rights,...whatever their battlefield is called, I look up to everyone who decided to make this world a better place. 

You don't have to be vegan to appreciate what vegans are doing. For example, if you thinks it's hypocritical for someone to say it would be best if everyone went vegan without being vegan themselves, you would have to tell every vegan person you know that it’s dumb to be vegan, but not boycott every single fashion store, be an active feminist and pick up trash in the woods in your spare time. Of course please don’t forget to use correct pronouns and fight for gay marriage.

You can’t do everything. Our world is too messed up to save it as an individuum. It’s important to find your place in at least one of these groups, who fight for the good that’s left on this planet. Find a place, where you feel comfortable.

Get started. And then, interact.

Talk to people who do the same you’re doing. And talk to people who fight in a different group. I think before you even realize what’s happening you’re fighting for two, three or even more groups.

And in the end we’ll all be vegan.

Now if you’re still saying “but you just have to change your diet and you’re vegan” please read this post all over again, because you also “just have to pick up the trash you come by when you walk the streets to make this world less polluted.”

I'm vegan for almost a year now. I feel very comfortable on this battlefield, although I personally simply can't get myself into the ainmals rights area of veganism. It's not my part of the battlefield. Not yet.

One reason, why I probably have troubles to get into it, is that deep inside I know that veganism is not my major battlefield. My true battle takes place in a completely different area. It's just a matter of time and strength to pick up my sword and enter the fight.