As you may or may not be aware, last year I decided to go vegan. My Dad, with his ‘meat and two veg’ thinking, still calls it an eating disorder.
Whilst I don’t buy that tag, perhaps he is on to something- I am much more careful with food now and I find myself meticulously reading labels and researching brands to check whether or not they are suitable to eat. My eating disorder, apparently, is knowing what I am eating...
This brings me on nicely to a slightly off topic post for the week. Controversy is the theme for the blog this week and so, in my new role as what my Dad would call a liberal do-gooder (which I don’t believe I am) I’ve decided to share a link with you.
Here we have the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson flapping slightly on what I think could be a fairly explosive issue just as soon as the Daily Mail run with it.
You may be wondering just what that video was put on a poetry blog for. You may also be wondering what me being vegan has to do with a poetry blog. Well, somebody at work yesterday (who knows that I am vegan) genuinely wanted me to make him a bacon sandwich. This is something I put up with all week- the smell of steaming chicken and sizzling bacon wafting across my counter but on a Sunday, when I am the only one working- no I am not going to make sandwiches I can’t eat, cook meat I disagree with and serve it all up with a smile. He seemed confused at my point blank refusal so I asked him a simple question: If a [desperate] gay chap came in, does he propose me bending over to help him out, despite it going against my personal views? Would that be acceptable? Make a bacon sandwich.... Tit!
All of this seems a little bit of a long winded way of me saying to the world,
“I WISH YOU WOULD WAKE UP!”
We are fighting wars we don’t really believe in, eating food we don’t even know the source from and taking these so called Human Rights to frankly obscene levels. I have posted a rant today- I’m aware of this. I’ve been long winded in my point, something else I am aware of.
Wouldn’t it have been so much easier to present if there was a magical style of writing that allowed for points to be made with wit, passion, rhyme even? I may have to do some research- a little birdy just told me there is something called poetry.
Sniffin’
When I trip up, will you hold me to the floor
Stick my nose to the pavements
Release my mind with toxins
And bond me to a greener future?
Thanks for reading,
S
4 comments:
Excellent first post to kick of the theme Shaun, I admire your strength of character to adhere to your beliefs so passionately. I have to read labels too, my husband is coeliac and it's sometimes an eyebrow raiser to see what the hell they put in it isn't it? I'm not vegan or vegetarian but I am fussy about meat due to anything processed knocking me sick. I keep backyard chickens and ducks as pets with the bonus of tasty eggs too so I tip my hat to you for carrying your beliefs through.
So, you don't want bacon or the sausage? ;-)
Great post. And I sympathise with your fight against the naysayers.
Ash
The most fabulous example of irony is the woman who is chairing the meeting in the video when she says at the end 'Thank you for your answers' to Boris.
Why does London have a toddler making planning decisions anyway? It seemed less like a political debate and more like a tantrum at the supermarket.
Sigh.
Thank you for rekindling my fury at the political mess and reminding me of the bacon in the fridge. A double edged sword of a post :)
People are so nosy. I don't miss the derision or incessant debate over my PERSONAL dietary preference. Beware of the bacon butty though. It was my doom even after 6 years.
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