Because you can't have something deep to say all the time.

I'm not sorry for who I am. I've had to learn to take this stance and I dare say, I'm still learning it but I'm putting my foot down anyway, in defiance. I want to be done apologizing for the things that I do and for what I believe in or for simply being different. I'm not sorry.

It's one thing to stick up for your beliefs, for yourself, and quite another to watch freindships and even family walk away because of it. It's even harder to be the one walking away. I've been there too. I have become bitter and quick to ridicule in response to being shoved around by a world full of popular/accepted beliefs. Until now, it's been my defense.

But I'm not sorry.

Dogma is the enemy, my enemy. Veganism, religion (if there is even a difference between the two) and those who practice anything that can't be won with reason (like the unspoken law about neatly manicured lawns, for instance)... that's where the friction lies. We all expect religion to have some dogmatic principles and doctrines, yes. I did say veganism has its own dogma, not at all unlike devout Christianity. Their lifestyle choices cannot always be justified with reason and they take scientific findings as gospel, spread them like a sermon (something I can't do when every day a new study comes out to appease some interest group). They call us non-vegans all kinds of things, "part of the problem" being the most offensive.

But I'm what you call a free thinker. I'm not going to bow down to something I don't believe in, something that I can't rationalize... so long as I can help it. It simply doesn't make sense to me. Veganism is SO akin to a religion; I've done the research, I tried to understand it but in the end it makes about as much sense to me as walking off a cliff. Well okay, you do that. I am not sorry. Veganism just comes off as some hipster tantrum born of fear for what they cannot change and an overreaction for what they think they can (primarily because they can't live without their creature comforts, unlike their hippie predecessors). I do what I can for myself, for ethics and the environment within the scope of my beliefs and that's that. End of line.

I'm fine. Thank you.

Then there's modern living. I don't take our ease of lifestyle for granted. I don't do something simply because it's the way things are done either, if there's no GOOD reason for doing it. We've become so complacent, it's frightening to me. But I'm not afraid to fill my yard with food rather than grass, for instance. Grass, to me, is the biggest waste of space imaginable. It's a dull weed that has no practical value. I have a half an acre damnit and I'm gonna use it. Vegans would rather I stuff it and buy quinoa shipped in from Peru to save the environment and furry little creatures but I'd rather eat from my yard, so long as I can manage. It makes more sense to me and I'm certainly not sorry for fresh organic vegetables.

((If you can believe it, I was actually told by a vegan that my efforts as such were essentially worthless... because, I assume, due to the fact that I was not a vegan. I'm sure that so long as even one innocent furry dies for me, my efforts to feed my family homegrown organic foods is an exercise in futility.))

Well, you know what? My priorities, thank-you-very-much. And of course, if it only offends your pretty little aesthetic sense... well, you know the drill... I'm not sorry for that either.

I have my own set of beliefs and that's that. I've been born into a wonderful and terrible time but I'd like to keep my head screwed on straight and keep walking rather than jump onto a bandwagon for a pretty ride. I'm a down-to-earth person and hope I stay that way. The day I lose rational thought... shoot me. It's a shame about my cousin and that other vegan here on DA but I would no sooner be buddies with them than I would a Christian who tells me that I'm going to hell AND I'm not going to lie down and take a beating from their passive attacks on those who aren't vegans --of course I'm not being singled out... just those exactly like me and everyone else I know. For that I'm not sorry.

Dogma.

Well, I don't have to take it or be sorry for it, don't need it fed to me regularly and I've put my foot down. Stay away from me. I'm going to get chickens someday so I can have the freshest eggs ever, I love honey and yes, I knit with wool on a regular basis. I think for myself and provide for myself. I'm human, inherently part of the problem, going to Vegan hell, Christian hell, Suburbanite hell (and I'm sure, quite a few others) and effing happy about it!