Just Because You're Vegan Doesn't Mean You Have to be an Asshole

Throughout the years, I have encountered and witnessed some of the worst behavior coming from a group of people who claim to have high morals and compassion. I am indeed referring to the vegans who, at times, leave me in absolute shock when they decide to open their mouths.

Calling meat eaters terrible people is pretty dramatic in itself, but vegans can go even lower than that. A well known YouTuber, known as FreeLee, once said that meat eaters actually deserve to be killed. In my opinion, that makes vegans look exactly like what they call meat eaters; terrible people.

Don't get me wrong, I am not a meat eater. I eat mostly vegan, except when I do plant diets in Peru. Now, that may sound like a total oxymoron, but a diet having to do with being an apprentice in shamanism isn't the same thing as a vegan plant diet. In the Shipivo culture of Peru, during a plant dieta you go into isolation and learn how to do the work of a shaman through plant spirits, and you cut out all salt and sugar. Plant dietas usually consist of eating only fish and plantain for the time you are in diet.

Because I'm usually vegan, training to be a shaman has become challenging, as I have to give it up for the months I train so I can acquire the tiny amount of nutrients I can get during my diet. But sometimes, you're starving. This is a good time to be kind and forgiving toward yourself, especially when you have to do something you wouldn't normally do.

Vegans have incredibly pure intentions. Their love and compassion expand outward towards the sweet souls that cannot speak for themselves. The problem is that some vegans are absolute control freaks. And I've noticed that the control freaks seem to be the loudest ones in the vegan movement.

In a sense, I have empathy for the control freak vegans who carry a massive amount of anger and frustration towards the public. We live in an upside-down world where the rainforest is being destroyed for soy farms to feed the cattle, and the majority of people still pretend to remain absolutely fucking clueless that their choices and actions have consequences on this planet.

On the other hand, this behavior is atrocious and does nothing to inspire people to convert to a healthier way of living. How do I know this?

It takes one to know one.

I stopped eating meat in 2010. From that time until 2013, my love for animals turned into hatred for my fellow human beings. I called meat eaters "fat and stupid sheeple with no compassion." I quite literally pushed anyone close to me who ate meat away, and I can guarantee that I did not inspire change in a single person during those years. The only person I was affecting was myself, and it wasn't in a positive way.

It was during one specific Ayahuasca ceremony that I was forced to look at my controlling attributes and judgemental attitude towards people who didn't have the same moral compass that I did. To those people I called names, I was reminded that those people could have made a huge positive impact on the world. How would I know? I came out of that ceremony with a massive amount of peace because I realized in that time that most everyone has good intentions, and everyone is on their own path.

In a spiritual essence, the moral of that ceremonial story was this:

We are spiritual beings having a physical experience. Each one of us has our own story. Each one of us is learning at our own pace. Life itself is a learning experience. We are exactly where we need to be and have learned exactly what we need to know, Individually and on a global scale. Let others live their own journey, because in the end we all go back to the same place anyway.

Everyday, there are more people who begin their journey of eliminating dead animal flesh out of their diets. Others will never change, and that's ok. But as vegans, we need remember to extend our compassion and our patience to our fellow humans. You never know, you could be the person that people look to for advice when they make the change. If the saying "you are what you eat" is really true, then be happy with your life choice. Be the change you want to see, and then you will start to notice that others will start to become inspired too.