"Do you eat jello?" my goddaughter asked me a few days ago. My knee-jerk answer: "No, not really", to which she immediately responded with the ever persistent, "Why?"
Though she is now 11 years old and in middle school, she will always be 5 years old in my eyes. Knowing jello is made out of cow bones, I thought that might be too much information for her, so I replied nonchalantly, "I just don't like it" and proceeded to get a glass of water.
I thought that was the end of the jello conversation until dinner when she asked me, "Did you know that jello is made out of cow bones?" "Yes," I replied, probably sounding a bit shocked. "That's the reason why I don't eat jello," I explained.
When I asked her how she learned the truth about jello, my meat-eating goddaughter proceeded to give me a vegetarian lesson.
On an extra-curricular class trip, their school advisor took them to a restaurant, which served jello. While the kids were eating, the teacher told them where jello comes from. This fact caused one of the girls to spit out the jello in her mouth. Many in the group proclaimed that they would never eat jello again.
"Jello has never tasted the same since then," she told me. "I don't eat it anymore."
I discovered in that moment that a child is never too young to learn the realities of the source of their food and develop values which respect creation, and every living thing the Creator has made. With the next generation, it is important to make the most of every opportunity, especially when questions from young voices are heard. I almost missed this opportunity.
By choosing to not eat jello, my goddaughter (who liked eating fruit more than meat when she was young) has moved one step closer to following in my footsteps as a vegan. I'm so proud!
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Almost all of the kids at church know that I am vegan and so I have had several opportunities to share with them. I think they are used to it now, though, and even make jokes to me about it. But ultimately I do hope to pass on this same desire in them. To me, it seems a lot like evangelism. I want to show people by the way I live and hope that it sparks conversations; and that ultimately, after weighing the costs, they'll see how great this really is and make the same decision. When I first became vegetarian and then vegan, I couldn't stop talking about it, though, and had to be careful not to be offensive and pushy. It's definitely a balancing act.
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