Comments on: Celebrating Thanksgiving as a Hindu http://www.swadharma.org/2009/11/27/celebrating-thanksgiving-as-a-hindu/ The voice of Dharma Thu, 16 Dec 2010 23:48:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Saketh http://www.swadharma.org/2009/11/27/celebrating-thanksgiving-as-a-hindu/comment-page-1/#comment-768 Saketh Sat, 28 Nov 2009 03:42:47 +0000 http://www.swadharma.org/?p=2126#comment-768 I was raised vegetarian as well, and I had a similar experience in preschool. On the first day, the teacher gave everyone hot dogs for lunch, which I said that I can't eat. The teacher took this personally and kept trying to make me eat it, so I had to explain to her that it is because I choose to be vegetarian, and hot dogs are non-vegetarian. She still didn't understand what I was saying, but at least after a few more tries she gave up trying to make me eat the hot dog. <blockquote> That raised (and continues to raise) an important question in my mind — <strong>which one of my two identities takes precedence, the Hindu identity or the American identity?</strong> </blockquote> That's a good question! I'd say that my Hindu identity takes precedence in most matters, avoiding corner cases like the example you mention. I was born into my American identity, whereas I have shaped my Hindu identity such that it reflects more of my conscious, actively determined values (e.g. <a href="http://swadharma.org" rel="nofollow">Swadharma</a>). I was raised vegetarian as well, and I had a similar experience in preschool. On the first day, the teacher gave everyone hot dogs for lunch, which I said that I can’t eat. The teacher took this personally and kept trying to make me eat it, so I had to explain to her that it is because I choose to be vegetarian, and hot dogs are non-vegetarian. She still didn’t understand what I was saying, but at least after a few more tries she gave up trying to make me eat the hot dog.

That raised (and continues to raise) an important question in my mind — which one of my two identities takes precedence, the Hindu identity or the American identity?

That’s a good question! I’d say that my Hindu identity takes precedence in most matters, avoiding corner cases like the example you mention. I was born into my American identity, whereas I have shaped my Hindu identity such that it reflects more of my conscious, actively determined values (e.g. Swadharma).

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