Veganism = Love, compassion and non-violence towards all living beings

Non-vegans usually do not intend to be mean to animals, they are just heavily disconnected to the animals. By their actions they become desensitized and lose their intelligence and connection with animals. It is possible to demonstrate love and compassion towards non-vegans and at the same time not compromising veganism = love, compassion and non-violence toward all living beings. E.g. this former non-vegan who slaughtered many animals: http://www.farmkind.org/

Persons whom are exploiting animals, e.g. non-vegans whom are exploiting animals by their dietary habits, suffer a lot because of what they eat and because of other ways they exploit animals. It is sad. Instead I hope their consciousness will be awakened -- and to a large extent it will be caused by vegans spreading information.

I love these words by Will Tuttle who have written the wonderful book called World Peace Diet (www.worldpeacediet.org ):
” I will say that I think, again, that the whole concept of good and evil are part of the herding culture's guilt complex and I think for the most part these concepts create a lot more heat than light. In the Buddhist tradition, for example, there is an emphasis on "skillful" versus "unskillful" behavior rather than "good" vs "evil" - in the sense that skillful behavior leads to a reduction in misery for oneself and others, and people who are "evil" are perhaps better seen as unskillful because, make no mistake, we do not have to punish anyone or send anyone anger or curse them; everything boomerangs eventually. In the herding culture that we're born into, though, only the material level is recognized because beings are systematically reduced to objects to be eaten, and we see ourselves the same way - as mere things that are born and will die; this is the greatest illusion. It's like dreaming a dream and thinking in the dream that myself, as the actor in the dream, is the true "I" - we see when we awaken that the dreaming I and its world is set within a context that it can't see but we can. Our entire culture is in a trance. The nontheistic religions seem to grasp this better than the theistic ones for some reason, as a general rule. There's a wonderful teaching from the Taoist tradition for example, but it's difficult to understand without meditation. There's a man on a lake, lying down in a boat, enjoying the beautiful sky and clouds as he looks up. Suddenly he is jolted hard as another boat rams into him! He's furious. Who could be so stupid and/or malicious to aggressively slam into him so! Jumping up, he is ready to righteously express his anger, but instead he starts laughing - the boat is empty. It was just drifting, propelled by wind and currents. This has been an enormous help for me. In many ways, it's all empty boats. The wounds people receive, even just being born in this society and ripped from one's mother and slapped around and vaccinated, already shuts people down at a deep level, and it goes from there, with the competitive and damaging education and other institutions. Having compassion for wounded people who hurt themselves and others and don't know better, driven by winds and currents they don't understand and are not aware of. As vegans, we are on a path of awakening, and though it's painful to become aware in this society, we have a lot to be grateful for and to give thanks for. I have found it's important for me to also make a discipline of sitting in silence for at least an hour a day, just listening attentively, beyond the chatter of the mind. And also to take time every day to consciously see beauty and to appreciate it and give thanks for it... and to give thanks for the precious opportunity of a human life to grow and awaken from the ignorance of believing that what I am is an object that is essentially separate. As long as any being is under this delusion of separateness, he or she will act in ways that appear "evil" - out of fear and desensitization and trying to keep away, and trying to get, and always, even if wealthy and powerful, profoundly ill-at-ease underneath it all... The vegan revolution is a revolution of love and awakening from the cultural trance-- all aspects of it.”