come along and ride on a fantastic voyage...

looking through my 'becoming vegan' book again i've become re-energised with my commitment to this lifestyle. a paragraph in the first chapter made me so incredibly happy...

'embark on your vegan journey with a spirit of adventure and a sense of humor. allow the transformation to occur with the joy of knowing that every step you take makes a difference. when you make choices out of love of human life, animal life, or the life of this planet (or all three), you make this world a better place, and there is no greater cause for celebration.'

today i was vegan and i celebrated every second of it. i had great 'back to nature' cereal for breakfast with silk soymilk and blueberries. for lunch i had an "egg-salad" (made with tofu and a seasoning pack; doesn't really taste like egg-salad to me but still so so good!) sandwich on sprouted grain sesame bread with avocado. for dinner i just mixed up a bunch of the veggies in my fridge and sauteed them and it was the most beautiful thing i've seen on my plate in a long time. i had some prunes, nuts, a banana, and i shared my kiwi with mah dawgs (they secretly want to be vegan and will be as soon as their current supply of food runs out).

re-reading parts of this book and thinking about the holistic reality of veganism that is often underrepresented or not understood helps me realize that while i have come a long way in my beliefs, there is still miles i have yet to enjoy with my actions.

i often think fundamentally with a little devil on my shoulder eventually enticing me into a more moderate and comfortable decision. all that does though is make me 'comfortable' conforming to the majority of society despite my own perspective that some of society's actions are simply unacceptable to me. i agree that to be 100% vegan is truly less influential and proactiv than simply doing your very best. in order to be 100% i would either need to live in an enclosed vegan community or live on my own somewhere away from society (this is where my fundalistic little friend shows up). despite this, i am still a vegan.

seeing as how i can't supporty myself right now on my own, i choose to live amongst the southern californians - particularly the rancho cucamonga-ians. i then chose to simply do my very best when it comes to living my own vegan lifestyle. ergo, i am living within my own gray zone of veganism, choosing what i believe is an 'okay' decision and what is not. seems easy enough yeah? i get to pick and choose what aspects of modern society i will associate with and those that i will not. but my little fundamentalist friend doesn't like that at all and tonight, my friends, he is conquering that little conformist devil in at least one round of this long fight.

tonight i make the commitment of action to focus my consumerist tendencies towards those products that are either new and produced ethically or recycled. while i understand that refraining from contributing to companies with factories abroad could potentially affect the livelihoods of those workers, the majority of society is not refraining so there appears to be plenty of people "supporting" foreign families. so rather than being "comfortable" knowing that what i buy still helps some people in one way or another, i will wait for and challenge those companies to achieve a status of 'fair trade' - then i'll give them my dough. until then i'll support 'fair trade' or ethical companies and take some adventures to the thrift shops.

obviously i can't be this way with everything i buy as 'fair trade' is still a relatively young achievement and some things i won't find already used. but when i can, i will. and that's what this vegan thing is all about isn't it? do what you can when you can and know that you can! once my current supply of *blankedy blank* has run out, i will do my best to ensure the future of my posessions is as 'fair trade' as it can be.

i guess it's all about the choices we make. nothing else in the world can cause as much positive change as some of the truly simplest choices we make...

'the thinking man must oppose all cruel customs, no matter how deeply rooted in tradition and surrounded by a halo. when we have a choice, we must avoid bringing torment and injury into the life of another, even the lowliest creature; but to do so is to renounce our manhood and shoulder a guilt which nothing justifies.'

- albert schweitzer

p.s. when talking to people about being vegan, they always seem to be concerned with what they are cutting out of their lives. with a little change of perspective it seems to me to appear as easy as being vegan really is - rather than think of what you're giving up, thing of all the amazingly incredible things that you are gaining...doing that can really just make you smile. (cut to me smiling)

go vegan and let's celebrate man! 'cause i done found a new vegan restaurant in hollywood waitin' fo' my money.