Day 294: Samantha Gould

July 21, 2010 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“We shouldn’t judge other people, just sort of be informative and be kind and be compassionate.  And you know, I think as a vegan I’m not just passionate about non-humans, I’m passionate about humans, too.  You know, they’re animals, too, and I care about them just as much as any other animal.”

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Samantha, for agreeing to be part of the Project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Samantha Gould: Hi everyone.  I’m Sam Gould, and I work for a nonprofit organization called VIVA!  We campaign against the factory farming of animals, and we try to encourage and support people who want to become vegetarian and vegan.

Toni: Okay, well thank you.  Thanks for being here, Sam.  Can you spell the name of your organization so we get that correctly?

Sam: It’s VIVA! which is V-I-V-A!

Toni: Okay, fantastic, thank you.  So Sam, when you think about inspiration, who do you think you inspire, and how does that happen?

Sam: I’m not completely sure if I myself inspire people, but I believe the organization that I work for inspires people in many ways.  I think that anyone who is involved in anything like veganism or vegetarianism or animal rights movements, I think what they do and how they are inspires people.  I’d like to think that how I am and what I do inspires people, but whether it does or not, I don’t know.  I’m not quite sure.

Toni: So what happens, though?  I mean when you … you can tell that it inspires you, that type of work, and give me an example of what happens when you say that you believe those types of organizations or people around them are inspired by that, give me an example of what’s done.

Sam: What’s done within the organization, what we do?

Toni: Yes, yes.

Sam: We do lots of different things.  We have these road shows, and I guess you can really see inspiration when we go out and do those shows.  We tour the country.  We set up these road shows basically where there’s lots of stores and lots of vegan food to try, and we give out information to the public about sort of the realities of farming and the suffering involved.  We also give out health and nutritional advice about how actually a vegan diet and a vegetarian diet is very good for you.

So when you’re talking to members of the public when we do these road shows, you can sort of see people getting inspired by that, and you know, really listening to what you’re saying and really wanting to try and make a difference by doing those things themselves in their own  life.  I don’t think I’m explaining this very well.

Toni: Oh you are, you are doing brilliantly.

Sam: I’m sorry, Toni.

Toni: No, absolutely, you’re doing brilliantly, because what I’m getting from you, Sam, is that the organization you work with isn’t only just a storefront, but you actually go out to the public.  And it doesn’t sound as though you push it down their throat or you put it in their faces, but you do a lot of educating.

Sam: Absolutely.  You have to bear in mind that I was a meat eater once, and I was a vegetarian once, and now I’m vegan.  And you know, when I speak to people who aren’t vegan, I remember thinking the same things that they thought, and I can’t look down at them for that.  I can’t judge them for that, because I once thought those things, too.  It’s not necessarily about being right or wrong, it’s just about trying to look at things from a different perspective and figuring out if that’s a perspective that you would like to look at things.

Toni: And that’s fantastic, because again, I think it’s a breath of fresh air to not push it into someone’s face, and that’s what it sounds like you guys are not doing.  Sam, what do you think happens when I’m in the presence of this type of organization or you’re teaching me or others about, you know, the healthy aspect of it.  Does that help people then explore their potential, I guess in their eating, and are there other ways that it helps people?

Sam: I’m sorry, could you rephrase that?

Toni: Absolutely.

Sam: I’m not sure I understand.

Toni: Absolutely – how will it help me to explore my potential, either my health potential or my dietary potential by learning about this?

Sam: I think it definitely helps the physical health potential, and there’s a sister charity called the VVF, which is the Vegetarian & Vegan Foundation, and sort of the resources that we produce, we show people how leading a vegetarian and vegan lifestyle can definitely improve their health, those who do cookery and demos at our road shows, which show people how they can eat well quite easily.  So it definitely shows them how they can increase their potential in sort of a health way.

I think also it’s being more emotionally intelligent, maybe more sort of in touch with their emotional side that seems to think a little bit more about the feelings of others, sort of thinking about the feelings of animals, and maybe sort of think about the health of their family if you have a mother watching the road show demonstrations and thinking “Wow, you know, all this stuff is a lot more healthy for me to eat or for my family to eat.”  I think it has that kind of positive effect.

Toni: That’s amazing.  I’m sure there’s a lot of information that is shared that people … do you ever get a response from people that go “I never knew that”?

Sam: Oh, absolutely all the time.  I think that’s why sometimes a lot of people … sometimes they just don’t want to believe what you’re saying, because it’s so unbelievable, and I think wow, that can actually happen these days, or they might not believe that … I think a lot of people think that … maybe think of vegans and there’s this image of these sort of stick-thin hippie people living in trees or whatever, and it’s not like that at all, you know?  Like the teacher who teaches your kids at school could be a vegan, or the doctor that’s treating you at the hospital could be a vegan.  It’s not like that anymore.  We can just be a normal person being a vegan, because you just don’t believe that what’s going on is right.

Toni: And it’s a lifestyle choice, isn’t it?

Sam: Oh, absolutely.  And it’s an easy lifestyle choice.  It’s something that once you get used to it, like with anything, it’s incredibly easy to do, definitely.

Toni: So Sam, what do you look for when you’re looking for inspiration?  What inspires you?

Sam: What inspires me?  I get inspired by everything.  I’m sorry if that’s not a great answer, but everything inspires me.  I get inspired by visual things, just beauty from what I see outside my window.  I get inspired by music and just by talking to other people who are as passionate as I am about veganism or talking to other people who are just passionate about other things that aren’t veganism.  Anything that’s done with passion, I’d say, is what inspires me.  Passionate people and passionate things.

Toni: Have you always been this way, Sam?  Have you always been very passionate about issues and about conversations and about this lifestyle?  I know you weren’t always that way as you stated, you know, as far as the lifestyle, but have you always felt that passion about life?

Sam: Absolutely.  I’m one of those people that sort of does something 100% or doesn’t do it at all.  I like to put my all into everything.  I like to be passionate about what I do, and I sort of live my life by two principles, really.  If I don’t have to do something negative, then why am I doing it?  And that can be something as simple as, you know, going to the supermarket and bringing your own carrier bags with you so that you don’t keep on using their carrier bags.  Or, you know, something like giving up meats and dairy because you don’t have to eat it to be healthy.

And then another principle I live my life by is you can always do more.  So, never, ever think that it’s okay to stop. You can carry on doing more and you can carry on finding ways that you can be more positive and you can enhance your life and other people’s lives around you, and other animals’ lives, too.  So these are sort of my two principles.  I try and live by them passionately.

Toni: When you find yourself, Sam, on a day maybe that you’re looking for a little bit of inspiration or to be inspired, do you reach for certain tools or resources on a consistent basis?  Do you find that you have these go-to things that you reach for?

Sam: I find generally I get inspired by so much around me that I can almost get inspired by anything, but if I’m looking to get more inspired about my veganism, then I will sort of try and read articles and try to find out what’s going on in the world as animals and sort of try and be active about it and proactive about it and see if there’s anything I can do to sort of help reduce animal suffering.  And so that’s how I sort of gain my inspiration from that respect, by actively trying to find more ways that I can help, and that inspires me even more.

Toni: Well, that’s a great lead-in to the final question of the Project, which is, what do you do to explore your own potential?  You are entrenched in this lifestyle and in this cause and you can hear that you’re very passionate about it, and how do you explore your own potential to keep educating people and bringing awareness to this?

Sam: How do I explore my own potential to raise awareness?  These questions are really hard, but they’re really good … they’re really good.

Toni: Are there organizations that you go to?  You know, you said that you do a lot of research – where do you go for that?

Sam: I guess I … you get to know what organizations are really good over time, but I guess I first started looking on the internet, and going to discussion forums, or just trying the basic websites like PETA and Animal Inc. which are two other charities which, you know, sort of bring up animal life issues.  And I guess the way that I try to make myself better and increase my potential, I guess I just try and always bear in mind how I was before I became vegan.

I have spoken to a few vegans who are very sort of closed-minded and they should get what they used to think and how they used to feel about things, and how those have changed, they see as a change.  So when I talk to people about it, I try to always bear in mind that I once felt the way they did, I guess that’s how I sort of make sure that my potential, how I have reached my potential, if you like …

Toni: That’s exactly … that’s kind of what I’m hearing through your interview, Sam, is that … and you just have expressed it so well in what you’re passionate about and who you believe you inspire through this organization that you belong in and in the work that you do.  But I think the takeaway for me — and others I think might share this with your interview — is that empathy, that you’re not standing in judgment and you are in this to learn about it just like you’ve learned about it, and people have free will to do and make the choices that they want.  And I think that that’s the takeaway for me, that you’re very passionate about your choice, but you are passionate about the information and the education, not the judgment of others.

Sam: Absolutely, and that’s how we should all be.  We shouldn’t judge other people, just sort of be informative and be kind and be compassionate.  And you know, I think as a vegan I’m not just passionate about non-humans, I’m passionate about humans, too.  You know, they’re animals, too, and I care about them just as much as any other animal.

Toni: What a great way to end the interview, Sam.  What a great sentiment.  I cannot thank you enough for sharing your thoughts today and being with us on the Get Inspired! Project.  Thank you so very much, Sam.

Sam: Thank you for asking me to do the Project, Toni.  That was lovely of you; thank you.

Toni: You’re welcome.  Take care, Sam.  Bye.

Sam: Take care, bye.

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For more information about Samantha Gould:  www.viva.org.uk, www.vegetarian.org.uk

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