No Spock, It's a Vegan not a Vulcan!

I can remember exactly when this whole thing started. It was back in the 60's in grade school, maybe the fourth or fifth grade that during recess as i was leaving one class and was on my way to my next class, i was walking down the hallway and i noticed a group of kids, a couple of girls along with a couple of boys standing in a group all huddled together. As i got closer i noticed them whispering to each other and looking out the corner of their eyes as this one girl walked by and kind of wondered why they were doing so, and as they were doing this they had different expressions on their faces. Some were smirking others had looks of amazement on them. I watched this girl as she walked by and did not notice anything different about her except she looked a little pale and her hair seemed a little odd looking. I mean back then there were not any girls trying to look like Brittany Spears because back then that look had not arrived but you could see the slight difference between her and the others. So anyway the next day i got to thinking about what i had seen in the hallway and my curiosity got the better part of me so i got the nerve to go up to one of the boys who i had known that was part of that group that was standing in the hallway the day before. I said to him hey, you remember yesterday when that one girl walked by you when you were standing there with that other bunch of kids? Yes was his reply and he said her name which i won't reveal and i said yes thats right but why was everyone smirking or looking like they had seen a ghost? Well he said that in order for him to tell me i had to take the secret oath and promise not to tell anyone. So i got to thinking, take a oath ? a secret? wow did this mean i was getting in to a secret brotherhood like the one on one of my favorite Saturday morning shows, The Little Rascals, you know where they had the he-mans woman hating club? absolutely i would take that oath and not tell anyone i replied. As he leaned over to tell me he paused for a moment because there she was walking down the hallway to her next class and has she walked by he whispered in my ear, shes a Vegan. A what i replied? a Vegan he said as he headed off to his next class. Now at that point in my life i had heard people being referred to as a lot of things, Polish, Italians, French, Europeans but never had i heard them being referred to as being a Vegan. Well while i was standing there in this kind of stupor the bell went off so i had to run to my next class. As i was coming up on my next class i noticed that the door had been shut and what that meant was the class had started and that i was late. What was i going to give as an excuse so i would not be sent to the office where you would have to hear it from the principal and he would call your parents. I could not tell him the real reason because of the fact that i had taking the oath and my friend who had told me sat right behind me in that class. And who would have believed me anyway, In not one class so far had we been taught any thing or heard the word come out of any of our teachers mouth so i just used the old, i had to go to the bathroom excuse and luckily he excepted it and the class resumed. Well the rest of my day it was all i could think about and back then a couple of my favorite programs were Lost in Space and Star Trek and remembering that on a recent episode that there was an attack by these aliens and for some reason i started to think i had a connection here. Really, could there be a connection here? Did i happen to stumble on something big here? I mean my father always told me that Television shows were all actors just playing apart. But how could your father be wrong, the man who brought you in to this world and was supposed to keep you from harm and teach you wrong from right had he missed something? Well i could not wait for school to end so i could get home and wait for my shows to come on. School ended at three o'clock and my shows did not come on until 7 o'clock and it was driving me crazy as the time seemed like it went on forever. Then finally the clock struck seven and i switched the channel to the fist of the two, as i watched with great expectations with my eyes glued to the television, the first showed ended. Darn no mention of Vegans at all but i had one more show maybe this was the one were i had heard them mention a person with a name that sounded like the word that had been whispered to me the other day. Then all of a sudden it happened, the commander of the U.S.S Enterprise gets on the loud speaker and said man your battle stations we are under attack by the Vulcan's and they are closing in. What did he say? Vulcan's? i could not believe it Vulcan's? no Vegans, Darn i thought i was on to something big that only a few people had known about and that i was going to call the Department of Defense and become famous and meet the president for saving the world or something like that. Well as disappointed as i was i headed off to bed. The next day i ran in to my friend out in the hallway between classes and i pulled him to the side and asked, Whats the meaning of a Vegan And he replied that a Vegan lives on plants and don't eat meats. What? a person can live on plants? but how could they do that, No Captain Crunch, No hot dogs, No Ice Cream Man, impossible no one could live long with out these kind of foods nobody. Should i tell my father, maybe her parents aren't treating her right and i can save her from this thing they call Vegan because i didn't know any one at that time that did not have the pleasure of having these foods that were part of our lives and tasted so good. Well after a couple of days i got the nerve to go up to my father and say Dad we need to have a talk about something really important. And so he took me out back and asked me what it was and so i went threw my last couple of days and finally i had told him about this girl at school but when it came time for the important part it was hard getting it out and my father got kind of concerned so i had to tell him about the oath i had taking and he agreed to take the same oath and keep it a secret. So i leaned over and said Dad we have this girl in our school and she's a Vegan. A What ? he asked and i said please you got to keep it down or somebody might here but she's a Vegan. Well all of a sudden a big smile came on my fathers face and he said that it was just a way of life that some people choose to live by and that actually it was a good and healthy lifestyle to maintain. Well after that being no shock to my dad and that i had not stumbled on anything new and i wasn't going to be famous or anything i was was a little disappointed but finished my homework and went to bed. The next day at school as i was in between classes i noticed the once small group of kids getting even larger so it seemed like it had gotten around most of the school . As i approached the group of kids i noticed my friend standing there and i pulled him to the side and said to him that being a Vegan is no big deal and that it is just a healthy way of living. Well the look he gave me was one of awl and that he could not believe what i just had said. So he said well, if you want to think like that you might as well just go hang out with her and be one. Well i think at that moment there i had been kicked out of the club and banished from being a part of the cool crowd because from everyday on every time i walked down the hallway past them i got the same looks as that girl. But you know something? it did not bother me one bit so the next day i made it a point to run in to this girl and introduce myself because the fascination of being a Vegan was getting to me. So after school i decided to walk home with her and see what this lifestyle was all about and she invited me to stop over later that evening and she could fill me in better. I went home after that and asked my parents for their permission to do so and they said with a look of amazement sure, as long as i was home before dark. On my way there after dinner as i was walking i started going threw my head about what i would ask with out sounding like i had thought they were, from another planet but as usual i decide that hopefully they would explain everything and i would not have to ask anything at all. So i arrived at their house, introduced myself and went in and sat at the dining room table. It seemed like they had a house like everybody else but sitting in the kitchen there seemed to be a smell that i was not familiar with but was afraid to inquire about so i just sat there as she and her parents began to explain to me the Vegan Lifestyle. As they were explaining the reason they choose not to eat meats or anything processed in a factory it started to seem like a cult or something that would kill you in the long run, Fish, Tofu, Salads Yuk! who would eat things like this but i was brought up right and that it was not nice to prejudge people for their beliefs or their lifestyles. And yes they were very nice people so i just sat and listened. After they had finished explaining about Vegans her mother asked me if i would like to try something Vegan that they just had for dinner and i said sure, like the old motto, don't knock unless you try it. As she set a plate in front of me that same smell came upon me from the plate of food she had set in front of me and i became a little concerned. So i grabbed my fork and took a bite while trying to keep my expressions intact as i did. And you know what? it was really good and i finished every bit of it and told them how much i enjoyed the food. Well we talked for a little longer and i noticed that darkness was getting close so i thanked everyone for the invitation and the food , told her i would see her tomorrow at school and that maybe we could walk together and headed home. It seemed that my parents were a little shock but with smiles on their faces as i told them of my visit and how happy that i did so. It was a good experience but there was now way unless they stopped making or outlawed them that i was giving up on my Captain Crunch Or hot dogs and Ice Cream in favor of The Vegan lifestyle, believe me it was good but not that good. Well my years went along following that same lifestyle and now that i have grown older it keeps becoming more apparent that maybe that was the lifestyle i and everybody else should have chosen. As the years have gone by and the truth 's have emerged on the chemical additives that were put in these foods that we have been eating it really shows how foolish we have been and right they were. i mean go in any Supermarket and pick up a package of anything processed and try and pronounce half the ingredients that are in them and i will bet you can't . Well seasoned professors can't even read them so don't feel bad. But anyway i see myself more and more these days going in that direction in the way i eat for the fact that i think all those chemicals that we have been putting in our bodies are the reason we are having all these health issues these days not only in ourselves but in our children. So what it all boils down to is after all these people were right and were no different than you or me but were smart to what the Government had been doing all the time. So eat right, Exercise and keep pushing the Government to stop these companies from putting all these harmful chemicals in our foods so everybody can lead a better life. Peace, Love, and Happiness