Before you start rolling your eyes, I want you to clear your mind for a moment.

Forget everything you've ever heard about vegans and veganism. Once you do so and can continue with an open mind, I invite you to read the argument I'm about to make. Maybe by the end, you will still disagree, which is okay. All I ask is you give it a chance, and keep an open mind.

I will begin with a few general questions.

Is there a point where passion becomes aggression? And if so, when is this transition okay? Does persistent aggression make you a bad person? Some believe the last of those deserves a yes; if this is you, consider situations such as being defensive when an enemy insulting a loved one, being involved in a protest for human rights—you get the picture. Often the passion of those within these scenarios comes off as pure aggression.

Aggression isn't desired by anybody in those situations—but the aggression is understandable. If the school bully said to his friends that your mother sucks cause she can't hold a job, your passion for family would turn into anger. If in your own country democratic systems were overtaken by a dictator, you'd march and yell in the streets.

My personal belief is that aggression is undesirable, but when it's for a compassionate and humane reason, it is absolutely understandable. And perhaps you agree with the examples I gave. But the common disagreement is in how vegans use the aggression. Eating is a task everybody must do multiple times a day, and often with or around other people. So yes, if every time you buy a meal with meat a devilish fire-eyed vegan stomps along and tells you you're immoral for it, that gets super annoying.

Now imagine when that bully is talking smack about your mother, he does that 3 times a day every day, and often near you. And not only is this one bully doing it—imagine 90 percent of people you know are doing it. You'd probably start to lose your mind.

Something that crosses your ethical boundaries and fires up your passionate side is happening constantly, and you can't escape. And, since you're in the minority here, your passion for the subject makes everyone else think you're extreme.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying vegans have every right in the world to yell at you for going against their ethics. All I'm trying to do is explain why vegans may act this way. I'm not here to convert you, and usually, vegans and vegetarians understand that that's not easily done (especially through the aggression.) But since a fraction of them do lash out or use strong language, all of them get labeled as aggressive and controlling. As they say, one bad apple spoils the whole barrel.

However, even if they were all aggressive and controlling, it's because they believe, for whatever reasons they give, that the choice to eat meat is wrong. They believe something horrific is going on in our food markets and daily lifestyles, so sitting back quietly suppressing their feelings on the matter—meanwhile, the majority of people commonly ignore their beliefs and even make fun of them for their different diets—eventually feels absurd.

It's kind of funny how the compassion of someone can turn into passion which can then spin off into anger. And it's not a good thing for anybody in those situations. But maybe next time you're in this situation and your vegan or vegetarian friend gets defensive or aggressive about their diet, you see it differently. Maybe you'll even take an interest in their choices and reasons for them.