Extremist

I was asked a few weeks ago if I was one of those "extreme vegans". It caught me slightly off guard but it is a good question, asked by someone who knows one of those vegans. It's those extremist that get the attention and make the rest of us seem bat shit crazy (*cough* PETA *cough*).

When it comes to my veganism, I do what I can. I avoid all animal products in food (I am an excellent label reader).  I avoid animal products in clothing and really anything I buy. I try to raise awareness, in a non preachy way, just because there's so much people don't know about the food they eat. I support business that  help our cause and boycott ones who don't.

But no matter what I do I cannot be 100% vegan, no one can. Filtered water (including city municipal water supply) isn't vegan, there's gelatin in the tires on my truck, regular white sugar is filtered through charred animal bone (although this practice is phasing out with the use of chemicals). It goes on and on. I still drink and cook with water, drive my truck, eat my Oreos.

My thinking is if I go after the BIG stuff then the little things will fall away with its downfall. Domino effect. Slaughter houses kill millions of animals every year for the meat off their bones. There is a lot of extra left over that they have to do something with. That something is processing it then sticking it into everything. Waste not, want not.

If the slaughter houses ceased to exist then it wouldn't matter. Or even if just less animals were killed, there would be less left overs. So I don't throw fits about how gelatin or animal fat shows up in things you wouldn't expect, I am an activist about murder of innocent animals and their inhumane treatment beforehand.

And if that makes me an extremist, that's okay with me. :)