Conversion Stories

[Guest guest]

Hi Cathy,

 

GREAT story!

 

So, do you still correspond to the Pete from AR?

(I LOVE meeting stories!)

 

I admit, cheese was hard for me to give up, too. THE hardest.

Meat wasn't so hard. I immediately emptied my freezer after reading

THE book. I cooked up everything, and took it all out to the

dumpster next door where I'd seen many stray cats too cagey for me

to catch.

 

My boyfriend told me I should be doing something " good " with it,

like donating it to the homeless shelter. We had an argument about

how I would then be contributing 'food' to people that I didn't

believe we should be eating. He was sarcastic and scoffed, " Oh,

right... I forgot. YOU have ETHICS now. "

 

Looking back, that relationship was quite an interesting challenge

which constantly tested my reserve.

I vowed after that one to never again date another meat-eater.

hahaha

Viva Vegan Elitism!!!

 

Well, I'd better quit before I write another book!

 

Suzy

___________

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[Guest guest]

Dear Suzy

 

> So, do you still correspond to the Pete from AR?

>

Yes I do, though not as much as I used to because it turned out he only

lives about 25 miles up the coast from me and I've been seeing him at

demonstrations outside Shamrock Farm for the last few months. He's an

amazing character with bright ginger hair and an incredibly powerful voice -

he hardly needs a megaphone to start people chanting at protests. I guess

that's how he got singled out from the crowd and ended up inside. That was

as a result of the HIllgrove protests - a great many people went to prison

for short sentences as a result of mud-throwing and other minor

misdemeanours. I have to wonder at a justice system which gives amnesty to

convicted terrorist murderers, lets them out of prison for Christmas etc.,

but which sends people to prison for throwing mud and damaging fences at AR

demos. Generally speaking, most demonstrations (in fact all those that I've

been to) are peaceful. One Shamrock demo which I missed did turn nasty - a

young pregnant woman had treatment for concussion after being manhandled by

the police and an older gentleman is still in hospital with a broken hip

after being thrown to the ground and dragged across the road. But these

incidents are mercifully rare. Pete is very careful these days. He was

inside for several months and had trouble getting a vegan diet, an

experience he is not eager to repeat. I will always be grateful to him for

his support in turning vegan - I really, really hope that one day I might

too have a " convert " - that would make me prouder than anything.

 

> (I LOVE meeting stories!)

>

You asked for it.....It was rather bizarre when I first met Pete. He'd said

in a letter that he was going to a Shamrock demo so when I arrived I asked

everyone I met if they'd seen him, but of course nobody knew me from Adam

and we're all really paranoid about police infiltration, so no-one would

say. Then eventually someone pointed out his girlfriend to me and I

introduced myself to her. We chatted for a bit then she took me to where

Pete was talking to some others. It was Hallowe'en and he was wearing a

devil mask and a black top with the hood up to hide his giveaway hair, so

really he could have been anyone. Unfortunately Ruth, his then girlfriend,

introduced me not as Cathy from Bognor (which I am) but Cathy from

Eastbourne (which I am not!). To add confusion Pete thought she said Cathy

from Eastenders (a London-based soap along the lines of Australia's

Neighbours), so the poor man had no idea who I was and politely shook hands.

I didn't hear what Ruth had said and thought him a very cold fish

considering that we'd been writing for months and he'd made me go vegan.

Ruth obviously agreed with me because she said " you know, Cathy that you've

been writing to " and at that the penny dropped and I got a huge hug and

almost a kiss (he was still wearing the mask). I almost had a little tear,

being a total softy. I spent the rest of the afternoon conversing with a

devil mask (most unsettling) and only as I was leaving did he turn his back

on the police videos and give me a brief glimpse of his real face. Bless

him, I owe him so much.

 

> I admit, cheese was hard for me to give up, too. THE hardest.

> Meat wasn't so hard. I immediately emptied my freezer after reading

> THE book. I cooked up everything, and took it all out to the

> dumpster next door where I'd seen many stray cats too cagey for me

> to catch.

>

> My boyfriend told me I should be doing something " good " with it,

> like donating it to the homeless shelter. We had an argument about

> how I would then be contributing 'food' to people that I didn't

> believe we should be eating. He was sarcastic and scoffed, " Oh,

> right... I forgot. YOU have ETHICS now. "

>

My heavens, aren't you just glad that he's " ex " ? You need that like a hole

in the head. It's hard enough being vegan without your nearest and dearest

giving you a bad time over it. It never ceases to amaze me how carnivores

just loathe anyone not being like them. I am really careful not to preach

at omnivores - it's a standing joke that vegetarians are a holier-than-thou

pain and I want very much to project a " normal " image, so that when people

discover I am vegan they will stop thinking of veganism as something

freakish. But how I wish that carnivores would extend me the same courtesy!

I have been " attacked " so many times by ignorant people and I swear I shall

really tell the next person who has a go at me how rude I think they're

being. Why is it do you think? I'm sure if I said that I was a Moslem or a

Seventh Day Adventist nobody would be boorish enough to say " oh you don't

want to be one of those, come and be a Catholic/Protestant/Jew like me " , so

why do people feel it's ok to attack lifestyle ethics?

 

> Looking back, that relationship was quite an interesting challenge

> which constantly tested my reserve.

> I vowed after that one to never again date another meat-eater.

> hahaha

> Viva Vegan Elitism!!!

>

I have to say, I don't blame you. I love my husband to bits, but when he

comes back from shopping and puts another lump of dead pig in the fridge for

his dinner - well, it makes me feel bad. But then, as I explained in a post

a while back, I was carnivore when we married and he does eat a lot less

meat now than he did before I went vegan, so I try to draw comfort from the

thought of the animals he would have eaten without my influence. If a vegan

lives with a carnivore, then I think for it to work the carnivore needs to

be sensitive to the vegan's feelings.

 

> Well, I'd better quit before I write another book!

>

Hah - you think YOU talk too much! Look what you made me do! Good to talk

to you Suzy. Take care.

 

Cathy