Imagine that you are part of a tiny minority

engulfed by a criminal majority whom you have defined
not according to 'race', 'ethnicity' or colour or accent
but because of your belief that the eating of meat
has become a crime against nature -,
especially the raising of animals and birds in horrible conditions
solely to end up in abattoirs,
sometimes ground into sludge to feed other animals.

The more unconventional and downright dissident you are
the more tolerant of the majority you have to be.
In my case, not just the thoughtless breeders and meat/fish eaters,
but also the police, people in any kind of uniform,
beer-swilling sports enthusiasts,
tv-watchers, Facebook-slaves, mindless 'holiday-makers'
(trippers who trudge through mediæval villages gazing at their screens),
dog-dislikers, plant-destroyers, water-wasters...almost everyone
outside my moral twilight zone.

Thus I (who could almost be an anti-natalist kind of Jain)
feel sad, impotent and ashamed when I wake up each day.
But I cheer up as I realise how splendidly tolerant I am (if inclined to whine
about these matters in this blog)
as my snot-green age surpasses seventy-nine.