Santa Lies & Humane Myths - A Gift Of Truth

It's no secret that this season is celebrated as a holiday in many cultures. Even we secularists get all cheery and gleeful!



It's a perfect time to renew one's optimism in tomorrow while remembering our connections to the past.

Somewhere along the way most of us had figured out the myth of Santa... I don't know that it made the fun or celebrations any less happy knowing that truth. The lights, candles and glitter still sparkled. The pine and cinnamon scents still smelled inviting. The cards and gifts were still a delight to receive... And to give. Discovering that our parents ate "Santa's" cookies and hot-chocolate didn't scar many of us permanently. But what it might have done is to cause the first fissure that enabled us to question more untruths. 

It's rather perverse to warp truth. It's an evil kind of trickery in lying to the vulnerable. All that trust we had put into the hands of adults to give us the tools necessary to function in a world where reason is critical, was betrayed... For - What? For "fun"? And still, it's much, much worse when the lies cover up harm to others...

The truth we found was that without the myths of the Easter Bunny - The spring flowers are just as colorful. Without the Tooth Fairy - The reward of "adult" teeth was just as exciting. Without believing in Cupid - Valentines is still special for lovers... Without a turkey - gratitude is just as - more so sincere. From St. Patrick's to Jack-O-Lanterns - We haven't missed much knowing the truth. In fact... Because we can think more critically - Reality becomes an even more valuable experience to participate in.

I'm writing this to give such a gift of liberating knowledge to some who might still be looking for this wealth that is more important than all the gold, incense and murr imaginable! I'm certain there's one more myth that most adults still carry around. They just haven't weaned themselves from the notion of "humane" meat, ("humane" dairy or "humane" eggs): But here's the truth unwrapped:

Just like Santa and Peter Cotton Tail - There's no such thing!

For those who still believe, here's reality from Webster’s New World Dictionary:
Hu·mane / hyoomáyn / adj. 1. having what are considered the best qualities of human beings; kind, tender, merciful, sympathetic, compassionate.

When you have the choice to kill someone or not... When you have the option to pay someone to stab someone else, or not... And you pick the killing part, where does that intentional snuffing of a healthy, sentient being fit into this *kind* act of slaughter? See what I mean?

I know... I know --- It's hard to let go of myths that our entire culture and species has embraced... We love us a good sacrifice! We even made special excuses to cling to them, like killing others was a "necessary evil". But even so:

When you start with a necessary evil, and then over time the necessity passes away, what's left?
― Matthew Scully, Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy

So no matter what your age you can still benefit from knowing the truth. It's offered as a gift. A little reminder that reality can still be just as more so pleasant than the lies... And just as okay to celebrate this holiday without the nativity - As it's okay fine, wonderful, terrific, BEST, to live without the sacrificed being too. ;)

No worries! You can celebrate these holidays without a deity and you can live your life without forsaking others. Please keep the genuine spirit of this goodwill season alive throughout a lifetime! Live ethically. Give the gift of compassion to others by going vegan! Kindness really is the greatest gift!

Art by Beth Redwood

Read more...

ThanksVegan & Food For Kind Thought

What a fantastic meal and celebration we had at the 8th Annual ThanksVegan event coordinated by Florida Voices for Animals! Robert Shepherd was the keynote speaker and you can read his moving essays here.

Robert D. Shepherd

It was a wonderful time with more delicious food than one could imagine. Best part was getting to be with friends who are dear but seldom seen. 

Tucker & me

The poster you see behind us is one distributed by United Poultry Concerns. Many took advantage of this backdrop for cool photo-ops. The truth couldn't be more clear! We know that turkeys are too neat to eat, and no one at ThanksVegan missed out a bit!

Another one of these posters held a place of prominence at the library display that I previously mentioned I would do in the month of November. Of course the major focus was all about the turkeys and the many reasons they are best left off our plates:

*

*

*

*

*

*

I was pleased with the display... It looked festive and colorful. The message was clear that we ought to be kind:

Available in the lobby were brochures also provided by United Poultry Concerns. If people didn't get the message on the way in... They certainly could learn more on the way out. 

I hope that all gentle folks had a wonderful holiday! Food for kind thought is always delicious - Isn't it? :)

Read more...

Death With Pumpkin Pie? No Thanks.

Franny from Animal Place

In the Name of Tradition 
By Heather Leughmyer 

In a smothering sea of white
Gentle beauty is lost

Born and bred to be dinner

Whatever the cost.

Debeaked, detoed, crippled and weak

Disease running rampant

Your future is bleak.

In a huge sunless warehouse

Tens of thousands crammed tight

Kept like a secret

Out of mind, out of sight.

When your body is fattened

And you collapse from the weight

You are grabbed by rough hands

And sent to your fate.

Hung by your feet

Flapping and scared

Still conscious, confused

If only they cared.

Your neck is then slit

By a mechanized blade

As life drains from your body

You’re alone and afraid.

Another beside you

Misses the knife

Still conscious, she’s boiled

Slowly ending her life.

Andrea with rescued turkey hen Clove

Neatly you are packaged

Shipped to every store

Butterball makes money

Spent breeding millions more.

Behind the tidy shrink-wrap

Is a mutilated bird

Who had feelings and emotions

And cries that went unheard.

Emily and Beatrice the turkey

In the name of “tradition”

Tens of millions will die

Somehow their sad remains

Seem so wrong with pumpkin pie.

*****

You can observe a turkey. Hold a turkey. Pet a turkey. 

You can adopt a turkey. Sponsor a turkey. 

You can save a turkey. Liberate a turkey. Or rescue a turkey.

You can bathe a turkey.

Sing to a turkey. Train a turkey. Or feed a turkey.

Farm Sanctuary 

And you can certainly love a turkey.

In fact, there are 46 million ways to honor turkeys!

But please, oh pretty please --- Don't ever, ever eat a turkey!

Pumpkin pie is much more delicious when served with kindness instead.

Read more...

Compassion Hurts But Actions Heal

"Compassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away. Your destiny is bound with the destinies of others. You must either learn to carry the Universe or be crushed by it. You must grow strong enough to love the world, yet empty enough to sit down at the same table with its worst horrors.” ~Andrew Boyd

Sure it hurts to be aware... But not doing so hurts more. 

Please, if you are not engaged in helping to heal the world... Ask yourself why not?

Read more...

A Vegan Knows Empathy

A while ago my neighborhood had a series of burglaries. With the exception of one home being broken into with significant damage, there was nothing of great consequence stolen from anyone. We got robbed too. The first time it was small yard tools. The second time they took my black 50's bike with all the cool vegan stickers, an extension ladder and a pressure washer. For months there was a relentless succession of hits. It was extremely infuriating as you can imagine.

One evening past midnight, there was a noise across the street. When my husband and I went outside, we saw an unfamiliar truck in front of our neighbor's garage. The perpetrator spotted us and ran into his vehicle for a get-a-way. My husband yelled for me to call 911. But by then I was already in my car set to engage in hot pursuit. The chase lead us to a closed McDeath parking lot where I managed to pin his car. He had no choice but to flee on foot, and so he ran into an all-night Denny's. I shouted "call the police!", and I blocked the individual in the vestibule so he couldn't leave.

There we were together... An exhausted pair with clashing interests. I could see then that he was just a kid. A panicked, terrified, trapped kid. I too was shaken. All I could do was ask why he stole things from people who worked hard for what they had. People who weren't any better off than he was. I asked him about my bike too... I was angry! The kid pleaded with me. He begged. He took a handful of dollar bills out of his pocket and said "Please! I'll give you everything - Just let me go!". He was crying - sobbing tears of worry and desperation. He knew as well as I though, that everything was already set into motion. There were witnesses, and the sheriff was well on the way. I let him push me aside and he ran so fast and far that I lost sight of him.

The police arrived in less than a minute. After that, the helicopters were on air patrol searching for this scared, hopelessly troubled young man. I was instructed to wait in my car until someone could take my statement. Officers were everywhere. A K-9 unit sniffed the contents of the abandoned truck. The father of the boy arrived on the scene as well. 

In the meantime I did a lot of thinking. I imagined what it must have been like to be this hunted thief. I thought about how terrified his eyes were. How crazed and frantic he was. How he pleaded with me to make the event disappear. I thought about how this was the worst moment in his life, and I felt sincerely sorry for him that he had poor chances and made bad choices. I know my worry was running along with him in whatever dark alley he was hiding in. I felt his trouble in a way that I didn't expect I would.

Initially I was confused as to why I felt such grief for someone who had violated my privacy and stolen my possessions. How and why did I feel sorry - for him? I was the victim! 

My eyes wandered into the dimly lit, vacant McDonald's building. I stared at the counter. It appeared so sanitized in its smooth, stainless finishes. And then, as a vegan's mind might work sometimes... I thought about how this boy's pleading could very likely be the same as an animal in the hands of a slaughterer. They too cry desperately to be let go. They too beg for pity in their own language. And they too would give anything to be spared from harm. The struggle, fear and panic would be the same. But their cries for mercy go unheard by the slaughterer. I wondered how it could be that I could care so much for someone who had wronged me while those who killed the innocent weren't troubled at all to do so. I couldn't and still don't understand how effortlessly they can do the worst acts against those who are totally innocent. All so that other victims can serve their bodies on cold, polished steel. I thought of these things while in my car... And I sobbed for all of us.

My thoughts linked back to a troubled boy, desperate for money, and settling for any way to escape the chains of poverty. And that boy then became the man holding the knife upon the throat of an innocent. I felt sorry for the father who surely felt he'd failed his son. It had come full circle. I realized in that moment that the only ones that escape, are those who still have empathy. 

Eventually I gave my statement, the cars and crowds cleared out, and the helicopters ended their search. When the sun rose the next morning that McDonald's parking lot wouldn't show a sign of a weary, pacing father, a boy running for his life, or a woman crying in her car for all the victims.

They'd find the boy a few days later, laying low at a friend's home. My bike was never recovered, as with most of the goods, they were all disbursed or pawned...   But for what I learned about myself that night - What I discovered about who I am, I wouldn't give a hundred black 50's bikes for. I understood completely what being vegan means to me: Empathy.

Frans De Waal talks about Empathy
Center for Building a Culture of Empathy

Read more...

Speaking of Ducks... And Sanctuary

Hooray for the animals saved from the butchers knife!

The video below shows the release of the goats, horses and birds rescued by Kudo, founder of ARM - the Animal Recovery Mission, during the latest bust of an illegal slaughterhouse in the Miami area. 



What a great opportunity too to remind visitors who aren't yet vegan that just because something follows the constructions of law - It doesn't mean it's morally right. 

What is true though is that these now liberated lives deserve their freedom just as much as anyone does. 

I honestly don't know how folks who do these rescues manage... I don't know how those who offer sanctuary to the victims sort out the injustice of it all. There are so many left un-saved. 

But this post was intended to pass on the good stuff... We who are vegan - We who know that every life matters should take the time to celebrate the happy news whenever it is found. 

And sometimes we find sanctuary in song as does musical artist Daniel Redwood. I think his beautiful images, lyrics and tunes speaks to the heart of why care. And why it's right to. 
Thanks to all who do. 

Read more...

Don't Duck Your Part in Being Kind

This video shows a duck family bravely crossing a highway. I dare you to watch it and not hold your breath a few times!

And in story books we can see similar events of nonhuman families just trying to negotiate the world of challenges we've put in their path:

From Make Way for Ducklings

Momma Mallard

And then there was this Dash Cam Video:


Now isn't it good to know that genuine kindness doesn't reside exclusively in story books? 

Coincidentally, just a few days ago a pair of young Mallards (or Wood Ducks ?) wandered close enough for me to watch them for a bit - Here's what I can share of that thrilling experience:

I suppose my simple message is: Please don't "duck" from doing your part to make a better world... Life is full of perils for all of us. We're all in the middle of some road, somewhere. If we can observe in a peaceful way as others make their journey or if we can help them when there's trouble - It's a good day for everyone.

Read more...

The Ultimate Whistle Blower: EARTHLINGS

Do not protect from your eyes what they endure with their bodies.

Reviews of Earthlings

Watch Earthlings here.

Read more...

Yes Luiz! You did do something beautiful!

When I was first introduced to this video it had about 300 views... It now has over a million hits. This video has made the circuit on countless blogs, websites and internet news media. I'm certain you've seen it - But I just can't help but include it here as well. Why would I ever pass on the opportunity to share such pure joy?


Of course, I'm referring to Luiz Antonio, whose wisdom and sincerity is infectious!

Mom: Now eat your octopus gnocchi
Luiz: Ok mom. alright... This Octopus isn't real, right?
Mom: No.
Luiz: Then alright... He doesn't speak and he doesn't have a head, right?

I'm enamored by the way he sing-songs his case through the naming of other species:

Luiz: Octopus are animals...All of them are animals... Fish are animals... Octopus are animals... Chicken are animals... Cows are animals... Pigs are animals.
So...! When we eat animals they die!
I don't like that they die...
I like that they stay standing up.
These animals... you gotta take care of them... and not eat them!

We are all touched by you! Yes Luiz! You did do something beautiful!

Coincidentally I watched this video right behind a second listen to this Animal Rights Zone podcast that features an interview with Australian advocate and student/graduate of the World Peace Diet facilitator's course Gypsy Wulff. At about 8:30 minutes into the podcast Gypsy is speaking of her upcoming book Turning Points in Compassion. It's to be a collection of more than 50 personal experiences of fellow advocates. Gypsy Wulff also has a website by the same name. She truly is a remarkable woman.

As I listened to the podcast I was particularly tuned in when the question of how and why people eventually become awakened was asked.  After acknowledging that every one's story is different Gypsy also states that "Many of the people talk about their childhood experiences, and how there were things that made them very uncomfortable. But because as children we are powerless to make our food choices, they gradually became unconscious about it and in their adult years they come back to it." Gypsy goes on to further endorse the idea that teaching compassion must begin in childhood. She also discusses how society (especially regarding the slaughter of animals) represses these early notions of justice and kindness by creating lies and myths. And so it goes that our instincts of fairness become swallowed, silenced and suppressed by these societal secrets. 

One doesn't have to go far to see these myths in story books where cows "give" milk, sheep "give" wool and pigs "give" bacon. Further on it's evident that adults still cling to the dissonance by the perpetuation of "happy meat" and even the twisted portrayal of Suicide Food. Clearly we know what problems telling lies to children creates... How can we ever expect to raise a whole and healthy culture if we don't deal with children and our food issues honestly?

I hope every parent heeds Luiz's advice... We really shouldn't harm anyone. And with potatoes and rice and so very many more options we don't have to!

I also hope parents and other adults guide children to the books available at Turning Points in Compassion and to the sister-site Kindness is Kool. The mind awakening and life affirming materials there ought to set any child on a road to a healthy heart, mind and body. We all want a future with emotionally and ethically strong fellow humans like Luiz. Let's give them every chance to become such by the example of respecting our fellow creatures as well.

Read more...