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Earthlings

2011-11-26 -

I�m not sure how it happened but I�m a vegan again. For the most part. I do actually know how it happened, it was by association. I came home from work and when I walked into the house, my husband was sitting on the couch looking very distressed, staring down at his laptop computer. It�s not a look he often has. I�ve seen it when he�s dealing with me on occasion, but that�s when I�m actually in the house. He was watching �Earthlings� which is a movie I haven�t been able to bring myself to watch, because everyone I know who has seen it always says �don�t see this movie unless you want to cry and / or be a vegan�, or something like that. Well, now two of us are vegan. It�s probably long overdue, I really didn�t like meat much anyway, and dairy is overrated, once you stop eating it. Soy is not healthy either, when it all comes down to it, but I think of soy as more of a slow ambivalent death, whereas dairy is a bit more direct. A doctor is more likely to tell you to cut out all the butter and lard or you�ll be sure to have a blocked something or other. I haven�t heard of any doctor - soy interventions.

My husband is laser sharp and very convincing in regards to his convictions. When he was eating meat, he was equally as sure that it was the right thing to do as he is now that it isn�t. I liked the carnivore, but I have to say I do appreciate the kinder gentler veggie. He agrees with the main point of the movie, which to simplify it to one key point is to say that we are all just earthlings, equally inhabiting the planet. We have no more right to be here than a dog or a pony or a cow or a duck or a lamb. Beings. He has told me that he doesn�t think I should ever see the movie. I feel like I already got what I was supposed to get out of it, so don�t think I need to see it either. Just to be sure this is what he wanted to do, I asked a couple of key questions.

� You�re not going to start referring to people as �them� and �us�, right?�

�Of course not! I�m not going to be exclusive because of the way other people eat, that�s ridiculous.�

Vegans = 1.

�If you start looking like a gaunt unhealthy person, and popping off at people like an angry vegan, that�s bad, right?�

He agreed. Because no one likes a skinny angry stupid vegan.

�If you were on a mountain and couldn�t survive on wild greens and the things that were available, would you eat one of the animals roaming around?�

�If I had no food and I was starving, absolutely. But I just feel like I don�t absolutely need to eat an animal. If I were to eat one, I�d kill it myself with tools that I made, because anything else is cheating.�

�But that doesn�t sound very vegetarian.�

As long as he understands what he�s doing. I kind of get where he�s coming from.

�If we went back to Spain, would you eat jamon again?�

�Nope.�

�You ate a lot of jamon.�

�Yeah, I wouldn�t eat it now.�

�Well I wouldn�t eat it then, so that�s great news to me.�

Personally, I don�t want him thinking I�m 100% on this, so I�m always sure to have a pat of butter or some milk chocolate at work so I can come home and casually mention it.

�Oh, I didn�t eat any dairy today which was actually kind of cool � except for one of those cardamom butter cookies Bart brought in to work that his mom made. I�ll probably have one next time she makes them too. No big deal.�

You have to manage expectations early.

He is going hiking for a few days in the wilderness to camp out on a mountain very soon, speaking of mountains. I was invited to come along, but I don�t see the need to get eaten by a bear, is all. Last week it poured while we were hiking, so I decided we should go on one of the steep jungle danger trails, and we almost got caught up in a few mudslides and died coming back down with all the flooding, which was good enough for me. The idea of actually camping in that weather just makes me want to sit next to a furnace till I crackle. I�d rather build a fort with no actual elements. He just got a new tent to take into the wilderness with him, so last night he set it up in the living room so I could see how it looked. It looked cozy, so I climbed into it with one of our furry little earthlings and we fell asleep.

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