Current attacks on...

...veganism.

Recently I have been seeing a lot of attacks on veganism. I feel they are unnecessary and quite cheap for they haven’t even been thought out. More to the point many of these attacks assume a lot about the persons they are directed at. It is simply another form of categorization and stereotyping. It also forces convention down with a heavy hand before thinking much about what they are really attacking. I write this simply to clarify anything. Let me make that clear because I am not writing this to tell anybody to go vegan. Please make sure you understand that.
The main problem I have with these attacks is the idea that anyone who decides to choose a vegan diet must be doing so on the grounds that they are more righteous than those who don’t; that they are doing it for simply to be good and/or cool. This seems to be an insecurity on the level of the meat eater that perhaps they are simply a) too weak willed to step outside of the life they have been thrown into and to look back with neutral eye, and therefore feel at threat by those who make changes like this to their lifestyle. This is clearly not the case however, as some people who continue to eat meat do so on grounds that they have rationally thought out. I am not here to categorize. Perhaps b) they believe the choice of diet change from the vegan to have been simply about the fact that they feel bad that particular animals are suffering and therefore the question is raised as to exactly what can feel pain and other such specifics. This isn’t quite right either. In some cases perhaps the vegan is thinking only of himself when he decides to withdraw from animal products, but I know in my own case I decided to go vegan because I had educated myself on the reality of some areas of the animal product trade and decided on rational grounds that this effects the nature of various species being treated as a means to an end. I then saw that there exists many an alternative, making a vegan lifestyle sustainable and even quite appealing for more than one reason. I didn’t make the decision so that I could tell everyone else how righteous I am and how hip I now feel to be in with an out crowd, in fact I don’t feel the need to make a public display of my dietary choice at all. What I won’t accept is being made to feel like an idiot for my choice as if I didn’t think about it before but rushed after a new up and coming cool thing to do like a moth to a flame.
More to the point I realized when I went vegan that this was a choice that only affected me and therefore I of course wasn’t to preach such an idea to anyone else. I believe in each and every individual’s freedom and responsibility to choose their own lifestyle and not to have one handed down to them nor preached upon them. Therefore I feel that I have a right to eat what I like without someone else’s opinion thrown in my face, and I feel that I deserve this treatment for the fact that I don’t throw my opinions in anyone else’s face. I am not saying don’t question anything like veganism, it is still relatively new and it’s moving quickly. But just think before you launch attacks, questioning something is one thing but striking mindless blows is another. The worst part is being called a ‘pussy’ or a ‘fag’ for choosing this diet because it brings in other unnecessary hateful stereotypes and proves the idiocy of the attacker at a further level.

We Stare at Mirrors - Upheaval Full Lyrics

Happiness.

Pen to paper, heart to heart, how easy it is to criticise,
When there's light in the world, and I push through each day
because I feel alive at night.
Pick me up and let this armour shine in spite of me,
Make me brave, make me strong.
You can wail and whine all you like but this is happiness.

For I, I thought I'd crossed a line but I must have slipped,
I'm dragging myself back up to climb.
One of man's greatest wonders is looking me in the eye,
But I'm putting his puzzle together, piece by piece.
We'll pack up the camp, extinguish the fire when we're all ready to leave.
As sad as it seems it's time we made a move.


Reparation.

We're so young, we're impressionable, but it pushes so hard it fucking hurts.
The hardest thing to encounter on this journey is the search for yourself,
And for that my friend time will take its time,
And you will have to wait.
Things get worse everyday, the fun of youth has its price to pay.
Things get worse everyday and now you're looking back at what could have been.
And that bright little spark that made us connect will slowly fade out.
As you wallow in your pity I'll fester in mine,
We'll go out as one.
Thr stormy seas that make this an island are too vicious for you to leave.
Because the people are gold in the city that never grows.
We're all so impressionable, it fucking hurts to watch how we changed,
But that pain is part of growth.
We've grown up far enough, so why do we want to go back?
The bitter taste of a city that never grows made some want to leave.
But most are stuck in the rut of living for this place is inescapable.
The tall trees that make this place secret can take its toll on any man's fears,
But the light that seeps in through the branches takes a brave man's eye to see.
It's cold not knowing, and now your looking back at what could have been,
And I'm not coming back.
The people are gold in the city that never grows.

Insecurities.

I need to escape this fear that she might lose her grace.
You might make me lose my mind.
Insecurities will win for my inner most lust is shielded by your pain.
I'm not coming back for more, you'll make me lose my mind.
I need to escape this overwhelming fear that she might lose her grace, it's happening again.
The body freezes up the nerves cave in the chest.
It's like a paranoia and everyone's looking straight through me.
I'd be lying if I said I knew exactly what I was doing,
But it's OK if I keep walking away from it all.
The words I want to throw off my chest,
Are caught in a wild nest of insecurities.
Time for a moment stopped as they made them feel guilty for living it all.
So cast me aside, away, for my ways are worse than theirs.
Insecurities will win for my innermost lust is shielded by your pain,
And I'm not coming back for more, you'll make me lose my mind.


My World.

Something's telling me to run, to leave the fright of stepping up to something new.
We've all grown bored, left reminiscing for leaving our souls together but our hearts apart.
All I hear these days are the knocks of the loose cannons running through my thoughts,
And it's all I've been left with, and I'm always wondering
if things were ever quite that grand,
The lonely soul craves company but misguided with the echoes and the empty fucking space.
These intentions can differ from the actions, but there's no way of judging morality with just one soul.
So who's the better person? The blunt side or the false?
As a child you told fibs, and as you grew they did too.
As long as everyone's still listening to you, then there's no reason to be true.
So put on a smile, get in with, after all it's attractive.
It's how I think.
There must be a way to leave this frightful fucking life.
We are all a victim of this shame this guilt, regret, and this fucking pain.
So why does it feel so cold and alone?
The lightest stone has sunk through the thickest blood, submerge.
I'm growing tired of this depression my brain is aching,
it's been picked apart so savagely it's feeling raw.
I've been so far in my head all year I don't where it's gone.
Fears can dominate pushing plagues of fright over any land of hopes and dreams that grace my world,
The only ones who hear my problems suffer the same disease,
I've got the ends but not the means,
All I hear is the knocking about inside my head.


Ticking Timebomb.

Lower my body, my mind, my soul is as one.
The future is bleak but the drop is the thrill.
We have one truth, one truth is inevitable,
It's closing in, the sand is pouring, sieving through the defence we thought we had.
The safety of youth is near-ending, the bricks are shifting,
The shield you held around me is slipping,
You've lost your grasp, I've lost my veil.
Making memories loses reward, where's the point in wanting more?
How can we progress when all we know goes down for nothing?
What I'll live for is what I'll die for, just watch me.
Just watch me fall.
If I don't bleed dry.
I'll savour the landing.
If I'm shouting out what I live for, then who or what would I die for?
There's a fine line between positive and negativity.
But I can't find it.