Celebrate Every Success

Hey guys, I wanted to remind you all of the importance of celebrating every success and milestone when it comes to animal rights. I know I've said this before but it's so important to make people feel good about their choices regardless of how big or small they may be. Celebrating these small victories will encourage people to want to do more which is ultimately the goal. Every effort made towards animal rights is a reason to celebrate.

Today I condemned someone who claims to be a compassionate vegan because he blasted vegetarians for being as bad as meat eaters. Although I appreciated his efforts, I reminded him politely that it was unfair to attack people for not doing enough as far as he was concerned. I reminded him of the importance of celebrating every success which ultimately encourages people to want to do more but our conversation went sour very quickly. He repeatedly attacked me and was verbally aggressive to me accusing me of supporting rape, murder, and other awful things. Again, I understand his message but he missed my point entirely which was our message of compassion should always be celebratory and encouraging, not condescending and rude.

What this proved to me is that there will always be people out there who will shoot you down for not doing enough. I was accused of not being a real animal lover because of my occasional dairy consumption and it kind of stung. I've spent 4 years of my life working on this blog, lobbying for better animal rights. I've spent countless hours contacting lawmakers and politicians across the globe trying to open up the possibility of better animal welfare in their country's. I've worked tirelessly to get trophy hunting banned, circus' shut down, and puppy mills banned. And for a brief moment, I questioned myself.

The moral of this story is simple guys, don't let anyone shit on you for what you're doing. If you're giving up meat twice a week, thank you! If you're choosing a vegetarian lifestyle, thank you! If you're boycotting circus' and zoos by no longer visiting, thank you! Every little thing we do is positive for animals and nothing anyone says can take that away from us. Kudos to those who go Vegan but I wonder in his case if aside from sharing grotesque images and the occasional cube of truth, what else he is doing aside form making other people feel less than him. Does he volunteer with animal shelters? Regardless, I appreciate his goals but find his method of attacking and berating people to be awful and not indicative of someone who is supposed to be compassionate. 

At the end of the day, we must always be proud of what we do. If you take pride in your actions, you will never allow someone else to make you feel anything other than proud. I'm super proud of being a vegetarian of 17 years and nothing anyone says will take that away from me :)

Much Love <3

HAPPY VEG