"Why worry? If you've done the very best you can, worrying isn't going to make it any better"
~Walt Disney
In my previous posts, 'Nobody's perfect' and 'Disney's Animal Kingdom For Your Consideration' I touched on perfectionism, the attitude of "if you can't do it perfectly don't bother" and life's grey areas. Still I think this topic merits a more in depth look. This entry is going to focus on problematic perfectionism within the vegan community but this is not a vegan specific problem I'd argue this can be applied to almost anything in life but I want to focus on this for a second. The opinions expressed here are my own and maybe controversial but I feel this is an important discussion to be had.
Every step counts. There is a difference between a plant based diet and being vegan, vegan is an ethical choice and complete life style where as plant based is a diet for health or personal reasons that does not extend past diet and can include any version of a 'mostly vegetarian or vegan diet'. I totally understand why people feel it is important to differentiate the two, this can get foggy as its usually easier when ordering food to say vegan than to explain plant based to servers, and this in turn causes confusion about what is and isn't vegan.
The original definition of vegan "A philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals" .
Things start getting complicated when you get past dairy,eggs and meat and start looking into things like oysters,insects, medicine, etc. The original definition is in a sense sort of vague in the sense that it used words like strives and practical this is very important because this takes into account life's challenges ,struggles and grey areas. In a world unfortunately centered around animals being products and that being the norm accessibility becomes and important factor, someone may hold all the core beliefs of a vegan but have to bend in action and this is not something they should be crucified for.A single parent on social assistance may have no choice but to feed their family zoodles which contains dairy or some other bi product due to finances and/or whats available at the local food bank.
Now of course this is an extreme scenario and generally not what vegans are addressing when they call something out as not vegan or not vegan enough but some of the harsh language and anger I've seen makes me wonder what the affect would be if someone taking positive steps saw and felt they cannot be pure enough and give up,
What I am saying is we need to be kind and compassionate teachers, not police. People do and will look for way to justify wrong and actions and make excuses for why they can't strive for better but we can't know who is and is not doing that and in the end the only actions we are responsible for are our own, so being cruel because something 'isn't vegan enough' or because someone relapsed with old habits, does not discredit their progress, it discredits yours.
Everyday we should strive to be a little better and harm a little less without obsessing over mistakes or road blocks along the way. If you dig deep enough or look hard enough our actions no matter how well intended will cause harm somewhere be it pollution from our car, energy waste from our computers, animal products in our medicine, there is no perfection and trying to hold ourselves or other to an unreachable standard only makes the fall hurt that much worse when we realize we can't reach it.
So educate people, hold yourself and others accountable for words and actions but do so kindly and without forgetting everyone has a journey and struggles, not everything is black or white the world indeed is grey.
