This week I decided that I was going to write about a topic that I feel strongly about, yet usually refrain from mentioning because it's typically very controversial. Roughly speaking, this topic addresses a main question that frequently crosses my mind: why are vegans always talked about so negatively?

I mean, when I tell people I'm a vegan, you should see the looks that I get. If I'm lucky, even if they don't support veganism, they will still ask me honest questions, such as the reasons why I make the food choices that I do. The best people will at least try and get my point of view, even if they don't agree in the end. However, on average, after people give me their looks, they don't always ask me honest questions. Normally, they just label me as an animal-crazy nonconforming, weak radical that only eats salads and wants to take away what is normal to them. Basically, they want me to conform to society's standards of what everyone is supposed to eat.

In other words, as soon as I mention the fact that I'm a vegan, I'm judged by nearly everyone for not partaking in certain practices that they deem "traditional" and "normal." Most people even take it as a personal attack; they look at my veganism as an attack on the meat, dairy, and eggs that they consume everyday... For most people that I have met, this negative mindset about vegans is commonly held... But, why?

I realize that, for many people, consuming meat, dairy, and eggs is the norm. At every meal, there is usually some type of animal product on the table, and where those products came from and their effects is never really thought about. Yet, why is it so awful for vegans to think about these things and change our ways because of it?

Vegans are not out to get you. We simply avoid meat, eggs, and dairy because of certain practices we are against, such as the cruelties of factory farming and the environmental impact of farmed animals. In the end, it's a choice that we make everyday to eat what we do, and nobody is telling you that you have to support our choice. That being said, it would be nice if more people kept an open mind about the subject, but still, most of us understand that the simple thought about not eating a ham sandwich for lunch and skipping that glass of milk with breakfast makes some people really uncomfortable.

And before anybody makes this argument, sure, there are certainly those vegans that are downright aggressive and try to force their opinions down your throat, but there are certainly meat-eaters and dairy-drinkers that do the same things... Most of us are not hostile and threatening; we are simply advocates for our lifestyle who tell the truth about the factory farming industry.

So, I ask, why is it so horrible that vegans choose not to partake in the completely avoidable practice of consuming animals and their by-products? Why are my life-choices considered less pleasant than everyone else's, especially if you consider that fact that I abstain from eating the flesh of butchered animals that by no means live a long and happy life?

Overall, I don't think that our veganism is something that should be talked about in a negative light, and I hope you can agree on some level.