There are days when we, as vegans, feel absolutely hopeless. Days when, no matter how hard we try, everything and everybody seems so against veganism that all we feel like doing is packing up and going off to live in a remote cave somewhere. Days when our faith in humanity hangs by a thread. Days when we could yell at our friends and relatives because their excuses not to embrace a life of compassion and justice are too poor and too lame. Just like any other vegan, I have felt like that countless times, so there is no use in repeating the excuses here.
Yet, there are some days when faith is restored and we are reminded that everything we believe in and stand for IS worth it. Today was one of those days. I don’t want to sound naive, but for me, every little step counts. I live in a country where eating meat is a big thing and there are eggs and bacon at almost every breakfast. People have told me it’s impossible to make this country go vegetarian, nevermind vegan. For months I had been asking my company to ask our caterers for some more veggie meals for lunch because having salads or rolls almost every day gets extremely boring. When the company pays in full for most of the meals, you want to take advantage of it (after all, everyone likes saving a couple of bucks where they can). But I didn’t think it was fair that while meat-eaters get their meals almost for free, I, the veggie, have to spend more money to bring extra food for myself.
After almost a year of asking for more options, only to hear that the number of veggie people was not large enough to justify getting more veggie meals (people would look at me as if I had just landed from Mars), I got a very nice email from the office admin: from today on there are vegetarian cheeseburgers for sale at the canteen. Meat-free, fish-free, and egg-free, but unfortunately not dairy-free…yet, I couldn’t help but grin at the email and – call me cocky if you want – feel a little bit victorious. Not for me, but for the fact that such a strong meat eating company is finally accepting vegetarianism as part of their menu. It was a small, but important, victory for vegetarianism. Dairy may still be there, but when 3 other animal products (4 if we count honey) are out, I guess I can say this was an important step.
I am not sharing this to brag about myself, as the idea was not even mine. I just wanted to leave a message of hope to those of you who sometimes feel hopeless: the world is changing and, slowly but steadily, people are waking up to a more compassionate life. It may sometimes sound like baby steps, but we will get there because our cause is worth fighting for. We just need to be patient and keep believing.
About the author: I’m a Portuguese Copywriter and I love blogging about absolutely anything interesting that comes into my mind. I’m passionate about veganism and I hope my entries are inspiring.
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