When I was a teenager, long before my own journey began, my mother had already become a pure vegan. During the last year of high school, she gradually began to share why she’d changed her diet, along with some understanding of her inner world and religious culture. I did not appreciate her sharing, however, which was full of enthusiasm. On the contrary, I had a lot of resistance towards her and regarded it as a kind of pyramid scheme.

After graduation, my mother strongly recommended that I see one of her precious pure vegan friends. With the sole intent of traveling, I went to Guangzhou and met with her friend, who later became my precious friend and guider. It was a really impressive meeting, in which I asked many questions about my mother’s diet. I was being mean, at the time, because I wanted to challenge others using sharp questions. Since this senior friend could answer almost every question wisely, our communication ran smoothly and even enlarged my perspectives. Everyone in the workshop was pure vegan, very friendly, and polite. This made me want to talk and learn more from them.

Soon afterward, I went to university and quickly adopted many bad habits. Fortunately, since my mother was persistent in sharing with me about the vegan diet (accompanying me to meet her senior friend), I had more chances to learn critical knowledge about life. I gradually began to realize that even if I chose social security as a major, it would make little difference for social justice. Some people are always chasing, and others are suffering. We long for development and equality—thus government emerged, but social institutions and regimes can never be perfect. As it says in the old Chinese proverb, “Without cleaning your room, how can you clear the world’s darkness?” This is the most important thing I’ve learned. Almost every person wishes that both the world and their lives were better, but the world can’t change itself—especially if we, the essential components of the word, don’t change ourselves. We hope not to face hurt or sorrow, yet continue hurting others’ hearts and creating sorrow for other beings. By influencing our minds to be sober and loving, the pure vegan diet ensures that our lives won’t be dependent on others.