I have always had mixed feelings about vegans and veganism. I respect those people who are vegan for intrinsic reasons. To them, veganism is the logical choice. When you listen to your body / you inner self and understand the wish to eat only plant based food, then it is the natural choice. As this choice is part of you, it completely natural and there is no struggle inside you. And when you feel you need something else to eat beside plants, then it completely fine to change the eating habits till that need is satisfied.
On the other hand, there are people who have gone to veganism for some extrinsic reasons. Is it the influence of some celebrity or the need to make world more sustainable or animals are just too cute, whatever the reason is, it is based on the ego. This way you fill your ego and not your true self and there is no harmony inside you.
As with all the hypes, there's no need to be part of it to be "cool" or to raise you self-esteem. We are not living any more in the society, where "common" rules guide our beliefs and actions. Each of us is an Individual. This gives the freedom of choice and in the same time the responsibility to truly take care of yourself and support others on their part.
By nature, we are omnivores
Humans have always been omnivores. Our physical bodies have adopted to that diet and this is the easiest way to get all the needed nutrients. In the recent decades, there has been a huge shift to eat a lot of meat. In the same time we eat more processed food and sugars and this has lead us to very unbalanced eating habits. To swing over to the opposite has basically the same effect. It takes years and decades to realize it, but the drawback will come.
So, if you consider becoming a vegan, you need to understand that you need to plan your diet very carefully. If you don't do that, there is a lot higher risk of malnourishment compared to omnivores. As you reduce the range of food you are willing to eat, the probability rises you don't get everything your body needs.
Let it be natural
For me, it is very important that I don't push other people behave in the same way as I do. Yes, I explain my point of view as well as I can and it is up to the others to agree with me or not. For me, same rule applies to other people as well. Everybody makes their own choices and I should accept those choices even when I don't agree.
Same applies to veganism. It is fine if you are a vegan, but you cannot assume everybody should be vegan. As I said earlier, humans are by nature omnivores and becoming vegan is a conscious decision. So, you shouldn't push other people, specially close ones, to become vegan. Explain you beliefs and they should be as tolerant towards you as you should be tolerant towards them.
In the families, where there are vegans, children should still be omnivores till they themselves are able to decide which way to follow. This way you give them free will to listen themselves and choose appropriate path to follow.
Vegan vs Organic
There are a lot of talks about how healthy and sustainable vegan diet is. In a way this is true and is hard to argue against it. On the other hand, this is also a myth what we imprint into our minds and never fully understand how wrong it might be.
Most of the food comes from huge fields and plantations where mono cultures dominate. To get good harvest, farmers use herbicides and pesticides extensively and more and more is GMO. The most direct effect for us it that we eat more and more chemicals and it is hard to predict what effect it has to our bodies. These effects can manifest tens of years later and even if we are able to prove the causes, we never get our heath back. Also, how many animals and insects are killed by the same chemicals? And the diversity of the nature?
When you are eating food that is imported from some far away place, do you really know what effect transportation has to the nature? If ever possible, food should come from the same place where you are living. I know it is not possible to get everything locally, but we need to be aware of the issue and visit more local farmers.
And not everything that is vegan is healthy. I'm not talking about plants we don't use for being poisonous or drugs etc. But simple things like sugar and wheat. It is by the nature that when we give up something, we are going to replace it with something else. And we want to feel good when we are eating it should be also tasty. So, it is so easy to fall into that pitfall and replace all the animal based food with sweets etc. If you are interested follow those links and understand why think sugar is not harmful, not addictive and not causing serious illnesses.
If you truly want to be healthy and sustainable, eat organic food raised in the vicinity where you live. And maybe organic meat is actually better than vegan food full of pesticides and herbicides.
All food is sacred
I like the belief of indigenous people that all food is sacred. All the food is provided by earth and we need to respect it. It is the way of the nature that every living organism needs food for staying alive and later on becomes itself the food. This is the cycle in the nature. Everybody needs to eat and in the end will be eaten by someone else. This applies to our physical bodies. So, if we acknowledge the fact that our physical bodies we be consumed by other organisms, it shouldn't be a taboo to eat other organisms, including animals.
As all the food is sacred, we need to respect the food. It is important how our food is raised and processed and how we prepare our own meals. When we are mindful to those aspects, then our food is sacred and we live in peace with nature.
Plants are living organisms
There is a good argument being vegan - animals are conscious living organisms and therefore we should not eat them. But what makes an organism conscious? They feel, they communicate, ...
There are a lot of studies that show how plants communicate, how they feed their offspring, how they react to external influences etc. For us, plants a lot more different compared to animals, but maybe we are no so different at all. It is possible that our knowledge about plants is too superficial.
Most people don't like sects
We are vegans, we are good! The future is for vegans only!
When you want to force your beliefs upon other people and you deaf and blind to other opinions, you are pert of the sect. And most reasonable people don't like it. Even when they agree on some aspects of your dogma, it is never possible to agree with your methods. In cults, there is no true free will and self development. It is just a crazy mantra you repeat and repeat never fully understanding the meaning nor the effect on others.
So, in those cases there no big difference between white supremacists and vegan supremacists!