Weird Dinner Invitation Update

[Guest guest]

Thank you, again, for all of the helpful responses...

 

Here is an update on the situation, for those of you who asked:

 

By a stroke of coincidence, I discovered that the

meating-eating-nutritionist-health-food-store-owner-would-be dinner guest has

a daughter who, at one time, was vegan. Apparently, the daughter was in

college at the time and was eating a very poor diet, albeit vegan, in

general. She became ill and since then, this man has attributed veganism -

not a poor diet - to her illness. He began to get very preachy about how

unhealthy vegan diets supposedly can be.

After hearing this piece of information, I understood why he was so rude

about our dinner invitation. I also realized that no matter what I did or

said, nor how amazing my vegan dinner would be, it would not be right enough

for him. Moreover, thanks to all of the great feedback, I realized that I

really had no interest in fostering a relationship with people like this. As

someone posted, it is a waste of energy.

 

So, I simply E-mailed the couple and politely told them we had a conflict and

had to cancel the dinner. I somehow don't think it will come up again since

I got the feeling from his response that he knows he was being offensive.

If, for some reason it does, I will initially avoid the situation. If he

persists in making plans, I will tell him that the whole conversation made me

uncomfortable and I will be specific about why and let him know I thought he

was rude.

 

This whole situation did really make me think a lot about my limits as a

vegan. I feel secure in my veganism. I also pride myself in being tolerant

of others and different lifestyles. It does not mean, however, that I should

be tolerant to the point of making myself uncomfortable.

 

Thanks again,

A tolerant and now more insightful vegan

[Guest guest]

wow, that was really well sad. You have a lot of clarity - we need more

vegans like you!