When the motivation is there, the obstacles seem less

I haven't been blogging, but I have been writing. The truth is that I started feeling a little raw and over-exposed. Hopefully I'll boil down what I've been writing, mainly about violence and assault, to something suitable for this forum soon.

But right now I'm going to return to vegan blogging.

Over the holidays I heard that phrase that vegans hear over and over and over and over "I could never give up cheese." I'm amazed that people always feel compelled to tell me this, especially in situations, such as sitting around a table where I'm the only vegan, where I can't really properly respond.

Generally this kind of statement makes me ponder extreme and unlikely situations where the person in question would give up cheese, like needing to climb a mountain every day for a single bite of cheese, or the only available supplier of cheese being a known pedophile who finances his child pornography ring though the cheese business. Yes, given the right reasons or motivations, anyone can give up cheese. Which is not to say that addiction isn't serious or that heroin addicts aren't motivated to quit, I'm just saying this is not as impossible as it seems.

The truth is that I loved cheese too. Honestly probably to the point of an unhealthy addiction. See, I'm allergic to milk, but my allergy is mild. I'd still eat cheese. I'd eat cheese knowing that I'd get an itchy rash later and an upset stomach. I tried to figure out how much cheese I could eat before I'd really regret it. I loved it, I craved it. I knew I shouldn't eat it, but I still did. So I know what cheese tastes like and how difficult it is to give it up.

I went vegan when vegan wasn't cool. Just kidding. When I went vegan there weren't many vegan cheese substitutes and the ones that did exist were expensive enough that I didn't even try them because I didn't have a lot of money. I didn't go out and find something else that satisfied my cheese cravings. I didn't develop a sudden aversion to the taste of cheese.

I just gave it up and after a while I stopped missing it and then a little while longer and I didn't really think about it. Years later cheese smelled strange to me if I happened to encounter it. But none of that happened immediately. I stopped eating cheese but still wanted it.

I gave up cheese very simply because I figured out that the dairy industry is crueler and more harmful than even the beef industry. I figured out that supporting an industry that enslaves female cows in unimaginable conditions until their milk production declines and turns calves into veal was something I couldn't live with.

When I reflect on this, I feel torn. I do think it's helpful to improve vegan foods and get new people to try them. I do feel it's helpful to ask people to cut back on animal products and try new vegan options. On the other hand I wonder if any of that makes a difference without sufficient motivation. Motivation seems to be about making those things we know on a "I've heard it before" level seem real and immediate. Graphic videos do that for some people, they find images harder to dismiss than words. Much in the way that someone will persist in over-eating, even after hearing about high blood pressure and heart attacks, but might suddenly change after a health scare, maybe there is something that can motivate people to finally quit cheese. Only don't count on health to do it--I've seen people sucking down cheese right after heart attacks. It really is a strangely addictive thing.