Veganism is for Pussies
“I thought Veganism was for the weak minded people, bunch of pussies” … it seems being compassionate and mindful of animals is a weak trait. Is it really though? The pussy Weakness is measured on how unemotional one can be towards injustice. It is measured on how rational someone can be in face of atrocities. If you manage to keep a straight face towards cruelty then you are not a pussy.
“There was a time when I did not care about anything, I did not budge, feel any emotional reaction to injustice. I just did not care. I cared about nothing. Nothing was important, and to me anyone who was irrational was a pussy who could not control his feelings. All I cared about was the typical things men care about. Manly things. Real manly things, real men don’t care about animals … “ says Tom.
Tom is now vegan for 2 years and a half. After years of lying to himself he finally made the decision to face the truth about his nature. He went for a trip around the world to discover himself and visited south-east Asia.
He figured out that: “I was thinking this way because not caring and being in control was supposed to be manly, it was supposed to be attractive to women and self asserting to my friends. I kid you not, my friends figured it out after a while, how unrealistic and unsustainable my behaviour was. I could not stand my classmate crying over something someone had said about her, or the way someone would react in light of criticism and conflict […] but now I understand, now I comprehend how to better channel my energy and my true feelings for beings of this world, how to be understanding and empathetic. All it took was to see death in real life” he explains.
I was never passionate about anything, in fact I cared so little that nothing was important; not even my health, my grades, my appearance, my friendships, my personal development, the environment […] but it did not matter, I was not a pussy back then, I was tough and no one could read me. Vegans were weak minded pussies, who think they could change the world, yeah no you can’t, you are just so easily manipulated by the media, people and your emotions are not in check” he thought.
As he arrived in south-east asia, he saw how the 3rd world cared even less for the animals, the environment and health than the developed world. He saw how unforgiving humans were towards nature and vice-versa. He saw the truth.
“In the west we are so comfortable, we are not faced with death, hunger, thirst, danger and death” Tom explains, “we are so comfortable in fact, that our reality is distorted to the point that we think we are tough. We think we have seen it all. Seeing dead dogs, dead cows and other mammals is not pleasant, not for a westerner. The locals do not care, that is their reality, that is what they grow up with.”
And somehow Tom had a revelation and from one day to another:
All of a sudden, I started to care. All of a sudden I wanted to tell them to be more caring and less rough. I wanted to motivate them to be more compassionate. But how could I? I was not even compassionate myself. And that’s when I went vegan. One day to another, I just stopped the animal cruelty I was involved with. Now I feel better. I actually care about issues. I grew up, you could say“
He gave up on all his animal products and he is now traveling the world feeling like a better man:
“I am more in control of myself, I do not mind showing my emotions and I do not mind being the definition of vegan pussy. It does not affect me. And that is what makes me a real man, I care enough about real issues, and I do not care about what others think about my ways of life and my ethics. I know I am right and I know that I am the most emancipated since I have gone vegan […] I am free of the burden of the western world, the lies, the hidden deaths and torture and the self-righteous feeling that we are better than struggling people who are actually surviving. They are not the problem, we are“
Tom was an inspiring man to interview. I wish him the best of luck in the future.
So long,
Sports Vegan.