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.).Their next question is usually to ask why I am veg-etarian.Over time my answer has been shortened to, If you knewwhere your meat came from and what was in it, you d be vegetariantoo. Some meat eaters perceive veganism as a challenge.Margison re-calls when older relatives at a party cornered my sister (who is alsovegetarian) and I and told us that we re going to hell for not eatingmeat because Jesus said in the Bible that you have to eat meat to be agood Christian, or something.Of course, when asked to show whereexactly it says that, they get huffy and walk away. Overall, Margisonhas met very few people who were actually against the idea of vege-tarianism.I hear more of I could never do that than anything else,which says to me that far more people than we think have reallythought about it for themselves.I think this is a huge change from thepast, and it indicates to me that vegetarians and vegans are far moreaccepted now than we have been in generations. Shaun Monson, documentary filmmaker and actor from Burbank,California, states that for him veganism results in only peace of mindParadox 123and joy. But the Hollywood and documentary filmmaking communityhas not exactly welcomed Monson and his Earthlings, a documentaryon the commercial use of animals, with open arms.Not yet.At least not enough for me as a documentarian.Earthlings hasbeen turned down by more than one documentary film festival, which Ialways find the most disheartening.Distributors have told me Earthlingswill never see the light of day. Cable companies have told me to sweep itunder the rug. Even a close friend of mine at the Humane Society said, Earthlings is the definitive film of all time that Americans don t want tosee. I m often asked to cut the film down, or edit around the mostdisturbing aspects of the film.But the documentary is the nonfiction film,so for me to cut any of that footage out would be to cut truth out, as far asI m concerned, and I won t do it.However, the documentary film industry, like the commercial filmindustry, needs to make money, which means they need to be a crowdpleaser and be entertaining, says Monson, so audiences don t liketo experience discomfort when watching a film, including docu-mentaries, as well as the six o clock news. Far from Hollywood, in Vermont, Judy Miner shares the ups anddowns of going against the meat-eating current of society:The joy of being vegan is knowing that in some small way I am helpingto prevent a miserable life and early death for animals.In that way I amalso reducing the suffering in a world that has far too much of it.Beingvegan has led me to try many foods I may have otherwise ignored.My dietis far more interesting (and delicious) than the typical meat-heavy Amer-ican diet.My biggest frustration is my inability to persuade more peopleto become aware of the issues and change their diet choices.Anotherfrustration is the difficulty of avoiding all animal products in things I use.We don t live in a vegan-friendly world and compromise is inevitable.Miner was for several years an officer of the Vermont VegetarianSociety.Like Miner, vegetarians in other parts of the United States face dif-ficulties when it comes to acceptance.Being a vegetarian can be verydifficult in Texas, explains Gloria Weers, who resides in the town ofConverse, and who has two grown children who are also meat free.How do fellow Texans react to Weers s abstinence from meat? Our doctor sort of ignores us.Good friends either understand orthink we are daft. People rarely make rude comments to Weers. Iam too old to get any of these out loud.The worst we hear are deadanimal jokes, etc. 124 Vegetarians and Vegans in America TodaySome people who eat no meat are frustrated with people who haveabandoned veganism.For the last six years, Krissy Vandenberg, exec-utive director of Vegan Action of Richmond, Virginia, has given pre-sentations across America on living the vegan lifestyle, the veganproduct certification campaign, and how to veganize college cafeterias.Vandenberg, also the mother of a vegan baby, finds joy meeting newvegans everywhere I go.I am regularly surprised when I meet vegans inthe places I would least expect.The biggest frustration is meeting ex-vegans.For a lot of younger folks, vegetarianism and veganism havesometimes been fads in the last ten years and many of them have given itup for whatever becomes the new fad.Our greatest challenge and mostimportant goal are educating people to be veg for life. Lewis Regenstein of Atlanta, Georgia, founder and president of theInterfaith Council for the Protection of Animals and Nature, feels joywhen going to a great restaurant or dinner party and having tons ofhappy, healthy, humane dishes to eat. Regenstein, author of severalbooks, and active with the Vegetarian Society of Georgia, also shareshis frustrations:People are always asking, You re a vegetarian? What can you eat? Iinvite them to our Thanksgiving dinner.Roberta Kalechofsky of MicahPublications in Marblehead, Mass., has even published a vegetarianHaggadah for Passover.It is also frustrating that, having a Jewishmother, I am often presented dishes like lobster, and am told, It s notmeat, you can have it. Oy
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