Pet Peeve

During my few months of being vegan I have realized the ultimate pet peeve, which I used to pose around vegans just one year ago.

As I said in my last post, my cousin came to Utah last summer for our grandma's funeral. She has been a vegan for many years and only tried to educate my family when we asked questions about the vegan way of life. In return, we came back with angry responses, which I now fully regret.

I have had those angry responses from both family and friends. My father was the first to criticize. His reasoning is entirely religious. God put animals on this earth so we can eat them. Then why don't we fry up my Golden Retriever, Babs? Why don't you boil your precious little kitten? I think those are legitimate questions for those who don't understand. This is one of the first things I read about in The Kind Diet and what ultimately made my decision to go vegan. It's a great question, don't you think? Why eat just livestock and poultry and fish? Why not go for the endangered panda bear or your very own pet? Maybe God put animals on this earth so we humans can eat them to survive, but let's think about this for a minute. God also put all of these amazing fruits, vegetables, and grains (half of which I hadn't even heard of until I became vegan) on this earth for humans to eat, too.

I'm one of those people that believes that all dogs go to heaven. I also believe that the rest of God's creatures go to heaven. This means they have a soul. How could my dog, Babs, the most loving dog on the planet, not have a soul? You have to have a soul to love, don't you? My dog loves me with all her heart, and that's proven every time I leave the house. My mom tells me she walks around sulking and lays in my bed all day waiting for me to come home. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Now I'm just getting side-tracked. I began this blog with a pet peeve. That pet peeve is simply judgement. Why must everyone around me judge me for being vegan? This makes me want to pursue this even more! If they think they're going to change my perspective on this, they're absolutely wrong. I'm the kind of person that when you push, I shove. Put me down all you want. So I don't eat meat, dairy, eggs, what have you. I feel amazing! I used to get angry pretty easily. Now, I feel absolutely no hostility towards anyone or anything. I feel so laid back and calm, it's actually hard for even me to believe. Holding the infamous Steinbach gene that automatically gives you a short temper and impatience was not easily avoidable.

And why does everyone want me to fall off the wagon? You all hope that I'm going to fail, why? I can happily tell you that I never crave meat...ever! I thought I would in the beginning, or even a month or more into it, but nope.

I will tell you the benefits of being vegan and the amazing life changes that I've witnessed, but I will never try to force being vegan upon you. You can eat whatever you want, so let me eat whatever I want. And stop judging me. Only God can judge me for my decisions, and I doubt he's judging me for being a healthy human being and taking care of His creation.

This concludes Act I of Chelsea's Venting.

And P.S. If any of you are thinking that I'm not getting my protein and calcium, you are wrong. I have done my research and have found many foods that fully provide my daily intake of both food groups.