More Vegan Leather Boys

[Guest guest]

Thanks for some nobly intelligent input on this list Graham. it makes up

for mine.

 

Good God ... someone that still actually reads books in this day and age

of recycle brain farts that make up most internet discussion ! someting

should be done about it ... you'll be in danger of making up a mind of

your own soon.

 

i share your sentiments about the sustainability of small communities and

have come to question much that i do on that basis. in answer to the

other vegan-listas [ rhymes with Sandinistas ] that commented on my "

confusion " or " animals first and screw the environment " attitudes.

life is a whole lot more complex and the longer you have at it, the more

aware you are of its complexities.

 

such it is being a vegan too. when you start off you are sort of

supercharged with desire to be pure and a tendancy to fundimentalism or

envangelism up a steep learning curve. then once you enter the long haul

over the high plains your perpective changes. you dont lose anything,

your thoughts and awareness broadens to have to take in the many things

you learn on your journey.

 

i think that you have a choice to become more softer and more

encompassing or rigid and more hard headed. i guess we have all seen

example of both.

 

often i ask myself, what if this big false so called civilisation we live

under went pop. how would i get through? it would not be easy the more i

was tied into cycles of consumption and artificiality, had become

artificially sensitive to certain issue, held fast to impossible

standards.

 

I have thought of veganism to be in essence a highly metropolitised

activity. a path that sells itself as being ultra natural and yet belongs

or flourishes best only in the highly unnatural urban environments of big

cities. forget the Tundra, i'd die if i had to go and live in the

Midlands or Sunderland. the only place i find that i am catered for or

feel comfortable are the big cities.

 

for the record, i did years of wearing sandals and tai chi slippers even

in the winter *AND* on motorcycles [ fraggle winches, only those that

have kissed tarmac would understand why ... ]. i even had a pair of

sandals where the outside edges had worn away because i was going round

the corners so fast and low. then i thought, " this is nuts. what if i

fall off? " i had a pair of old boots back at home anyway.

 

you see, motorcycles are 100s of times more environmentally friendly than

cars *if* you have to burn hydrocarbons. again, it is one of those pay

off. the balance between wrapping yourself in a tonne of steel or just

wearing an old leather jacket, which is worse?

 

unfortunately i discovered Birkenstocks before vegan shoes were available

and now my feet wont even fit into Doc Marten copies because the big toe

is not straight enough on them. i have feet shaped feet instead of shoe

shaped ones. it always amazes me that with 12 billion feet on the planet,

commercial shoe manufacturers still cant make shoes that are feet shaped

rather than making feet shoe shaped. and it depressed me when the so

called alternative followed en suite with their vegan bootie.

 

in the end, i have to confess that i went and bought a pair of leather

shoes but made the effort to find hand made, re-buildable, vegetable died

and natural ones because the Birkenstocks let in water and could not be

secured. the only vegan Birkenstocks are made from fabric. i make a limit

of keep one pair on the go at a time until they die which usually takes

about 4 years.

 

interestingly enough, did you know that there are vegetarian Hells Angels

in California?

 

and that's a non sequitor if every there was one.

 

john