It's time to screw the formalities, bring in the Ooby. It's time for a vegan Q & A.
Hi, it's Emily and Ooby from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget...a Friday Q&A.
I hope to do more of these in the future maybe, maybe pretty frequently because I think that
it's important to be able to answer you guys questions as directly as I can. And in a little
bit faster method than my highly researched videos which I will continue to do as well.
I will pet you.
So, today we're going to kick it off with some important issues. First I thought I'd
cover a basic question that I get a lot and I did talk about this in my very first Q & A
ever but I might as well say it again. You know when I went vegan and the story is basically
that when I was four years old I started to refuse to eat meat or anything I could tell
had once been alive, or come from an animal. So, I don't consciously remember that but
my mother is, that's what she tells me. And as I grew up more, and started to learn more
I became more conscious of it, and eliminating you know dairy and eggs as well, but I don't
have a hard and fast date for you guys I'm sorry. And I told this story before but you know,
when other kids my age were going door to door selling Girl Scout cookies I was going
door to door educating about poaching in Africa. The mountain gorillas and trying to raise
money for the Dian Fossey Foundation. So that's the kind of kid I was.
Another basic question I got is how old am? I am thirty one, so there's that.
And now into some more intense topics. This one is very sensitive especially with having
Ooby here, so just don't don't listen. So I've had a number of people ask me about the
Vegan stance on euthanasia. Euthanizing our companion animals when they are very ill and
there's not much quality of life left, was is it...is it vegan? Is it compassionate to...to
choose euthanasia? And you know, I can't, I can't tell anyone want to do. I can't tell
you what to do in your own situation and I'm definitely never in the place to tell someone
when it's the right time. But personally I believe that euthanasia can be a very merciful
act, and that it can be, you know a demonstration of compassion for for those that you love.
Because, you know there are times where...just quality of life is so horrific and all that's
left is suffering, and I think that it can be such a loving act. But that does not mean
that it's easy or ever a decision that you can make lightly. You know and so I think
it's something that only you can know with you know spending time with your loved one
and talking to him. And I know animals aren't going to talk back to us the way that we're
accustomed too, but you'll know your companion you know, you'll know them better than anyone
else. And just trying to have those peaceful moments with them and and just do your best
to sense out whether it's whether it's time. You know, but I do think that it can be an
act of mercy, and very much in line with vegan ideals and principles. But it's up to, it's
up to each individual situation.
xXOur
Yeah, yeah it's okay if you’re vegan at any age so good on that.
Okay, so how to deal, this is one that I got asked in...by a bunch of different people in different
ways so I'm just going to kind of answer the question in general. And it's basically like
how to deal with non-vegans once your eyes have been opened. Once you've gone vegan and
you become really sensitive to to what it is that other people are participating in,
especially with family and loved ones. You know, when you see them continuing to eat
animals and animal products. And it can be really difficult to be around especially if
they, you know not only for not supportive of you, but it just seems like they're not
'getting it', and how to to kind of deal with that. Because I think and I and I read this
in a lot of you guys comments that it kind of becomes this how do I...some people said
they lost respect for for their non-vegan friends and family or you feel frustration,
or aggression even towards them, anger because they're just not getting it and they're continuing
to consume the bodies of innocent animals, and you know I can totally identify with that.
It is really difficult to see your loved ones do that because number one, once you've had
your eyes open it seems so obvious. You know, it seems like why wouldn't everyone understand
this, you know, and especially those people you love. You want them to, you know, to also
live lives of compassion. Ooby’s going to go hang out over there apparently. So anyway,
it is difficult and I want to acknowledge that something that I think can be helpful
at least for your own mental health and sense of grounding is to kind of establish some
boundaries you know. It's always good to keep spreading the message. To keep speaking up
to be a living example for veganism. But you're gonna have friends and family who just
aren't, they’re just not going to make the change right now, and they might they might
never make the change. And I mean, you can continue to talk to them about it, and be
an advocate (Ooby’s going to snore really loudly now). There’s sometimes is a point
where you have to kind of guard yourself because if you're trying, and you're trying, and you're
trying, and you’re just doing everything you can to make them see. Nobody is going
to be forced into veganism. It can’t...you know, it doesn't work that way. They kind
of have to come to it on their own and all that you can do is inform. And for your own
sanity sometimes it might just be, you know, spending time with your loved ones in ways
that don't involve food. And that’s true with friends as well, and that can be, especially
in America at least, at least from what I know, you know, a lot of what we do is
around food. A lot of our social, you know things around food, and I think that's true in
a lot of cultures. So it seems a little foreign at first but there are a lot of things that
we can do that don't involve food. And you know, it's just kind of finding ways to relate
to them, and talk about things that don't have to do with veganism. It's okay to not
be talking about it 24/7. If you really want to to keep these relationships and to keep,
you know, a sense of fulfillment with those relationships, try to find other avenues to
connect with them about. But also just keeping, you know protecting yourself because it is
heart wrenching, and you can watch my video on ‘What Vegans See’. I’ll link it down
there and up there. And it kind of talks about, you know what...why it is difficult for vegans
a lot of times around non-vegans, and I don't know if that ever gets better. For me it hasn’t,
it kind of gets harder the longer that I've been vegan, and the more aware I am, I think
just creating a safe space for yourself to a certain extent to be able to recharge. And
also know that I think the vast majority of people who are non-vegan are not malicious
people. They might participate in malicious acts. They're paying people to commit malicious
acts and in that, you know, when we do that, yes we are complicit but I don't think the
full awareness is there. I think for the vast majority of people if they are fully aware
of what it is that they're contributing to, and what it is that they're paying for, they
probably wouldn't do it. You know, but it's just that disconnect and it just hasn't gotten
there. It hasn't gotten there yet. It might not get there. All that you can do is focus
on your own activism, speaking up for the animals, making the changes that you can,
and go find people whose hearts and minds are open. And in the meantime you never know
what's going to be happening with your friends and family. They might be opening up as well.
So that was a really long answer and I hope that was helpful.
Haley Johnston asks, besides the Woodstock fruit festival what events are you going to
next where we might have the possibility to meet you? So I'm actually, because I'm posting
this on Friday I am at the Woodstock fruit festival right now, not like right now while
I’m filming this but right now while I'm...while you're watching this, that’s where I’m
at, unless you're watching this later. But anyway I'll be speaking this afternoon which
I'm really nervous about it, and I’m probably really nervous about still in real life at
the festival right now. But yes I will also be in Toronto at the end of September. I made
a video on that called ‘The Importance of Bearing Witness’. I'll be there for the
Toronto Pig Save vigil. I think it's September 24th. I'll put the actual date below in case
I got it wrong or on the screen somewhere so you can meet me in Toronto there.
Also if you have more questions feel free to leave them below and I do my best to try
to keep track of all the questions, and keep a good log of them. I still have a bunch more
from you guys from the first ask that I put out so I'll be doing more of these videos
probably more, at least another one next week because with all the travel and everything so.
Ooby’s been terribly helpful for this.
I hope that you enjoyed this Q&A and hope it was helpful, and I do intend to do more of
these in the future. If you liked it, if you like the idea of having more of these give
the video a big thumbs up. Please share it around to help others who might have similar
questions. If you're new I would love to have you subscribe to the channel. You can just
hit the button down there and you can get more awesome vegan content every Monday, Wednesday,
and some Fridays. Probably a lot more Q&A Fridays to come, so good for that. If you
want to help support Bite Size Vegan in the educational content that I create you can
check out the support links down below or the nugget Army icon there. Maybe in the sidebar.
The sidebar might be full of other videos. Hope that was helpful.
Go live vegan, get some answers, and I’ll see you soon.
That’s a good girl!