Never mind the homework, here's the Vegan Teacher

So I had an interesting moral dilemma while working with some kids at a lunch program yesterday, explaining the veganism for pretty much the first time. A good topic for a second post if I do say so myself. But honestly, it was the first time it has ever come up and I was pretty stumped. Upon being asked by a bright 9 year old boy if I would like a Jelly Tot, I responded “maybe, it depends what’s in the ingredients”. I’m shown the package and sure enough the sugary confection contained gelatin. For those of you who are unaware, most gelatin out there these days is made by boiling animal skin, bones or connective tissue. Yeah, gross I know. So, my quandary came when the young lad with a glimmer in his eye asked me why I don’t eat gelatin. I ended up making up some excuse like “I just don’t like the taste” (funny since it’s tasteless and odorless), because I just couldn’t come up with anything more creative to say that wouldn’t result in a boring diatribe.

I figure that upon questioning, it was probably appropriate to tell the kid what the gelatin really is. I don’t think hiding things from kids really does them any good but keeping in mind their age, there are ways where you can address the issue and not freak them out. I’m betting at least. Now, I would never preach my veganism on kids. I have no desire to get on my moral soapbox in front of a bunch of younguns, but upon reflection, I think it’s important that kids know what they’re eating. It’s bad enough that their malleable minds are baing taken advantage of by soft drink and junk food corporations, so in retrospect I’m going to keep this in mind with the intent that next time my response will be “well, I just don’t like eating animal bits”.

To be continued, and continued and continued…

Alright, this is where I plan to chronicle my experiences with the fourth-coming generation of our species. A little about myself; I am turning 26 and think I figured out how to channel all of my discontent towards everything (I see) that is wrong with our planet. The polluting, the violence, the consumption and the lack of compassion, these are all things that I think are traits learned by us through a complex process of socialization. I also believe they can be both unlearned or never learned to begin with and this is why I am going into teaching.

It’s exciting and I feel much less anxious about the future these days since I came to the realization that this is just the logical extension of everything that I’ve learned from listening to, and being involved in punk rock over the last dozen or so years. For what use are good ideas if we don’t pass them on? Anyways, I hope to this thing up with hilarious and inspiring tales, thoughts and perhaps the odd show or record review.