Not Eating Animals

Not Eating Animals

All those years I never thought of you

I used my knife and fork to cut up your cooked flesh

And put it in my mouth as if it was food

Why didn’t I ask how life was for you?

Why didn’t your life matter as much as mine?

Why was I ok with most of us paying others to kill you?

Why didn’t I ask why killing animals was even a job for someone?

Now that I know what happens to you – the conditions you live with,

               Your fear and pain, the male chicks immediately killed,

               The male calves ripped away from their mother to become

               ‘veal’ and the females to become suppliers just like their mothers.

               Pregnant pigs in gestation cages without room to move.

All of this slaughter and cruelty just so I can have a hamburger (a cow

               had to be killed and ground up), chicken nuggets (a chicken had

               to be slaughtered and sliced up), bacon (a pig had to be drained of

               blood and cut up), cheese (a cow was not allowed to be a mother to

               her newborn – her baby was meant for us, not her)

I could no longer ignore these things.

I have always loved animals and I feel compassion for those living among us

who are disadvantaged both human and non-human animals.

So, after much soul-searching and finding out what I could eat that would not

               Be part of the exploitation and cruelty to other species that

               Share this planet with us, I became a vegan.

Now when I see dairy products, all I can think of is the sadness the mother cow feels

               When her baby is ripped away so we can consume the milk, the cheese, the

Ice cream, the creamer meant for her baby.

When I see the pieces of meat in the grocery store, all I can see is the clever

               Packaging designed so that we won’t think about how that meat from a

               Cow, a pig, a chicken, a duck ended up on that grocery shelf.

I have seen the truth

I have acknowledged my ignorance

I can never go back.

                                                                                     

                                                                               

Alicia Silverstone on The Late Show with Steven Colbert

Recently I saw that Alicia Silverstone was going to be on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert". I must confess that I don't always stay tuned to listen to the guest interviews, but really wanted to hear Alicia. When she has appeared on other late night shows, a discussion of her commitment to being a vegan usually comes up so I had to watch to see if it did. And I was so pleasantly rewarded when the topic did come up. Alicia Silverstone is a famous and 'easy to like' vegan - a great spokeswoman. In her usual style, she was funny and calm, AND convincing  in her enjoyment and advocacy of the vegan food choices - such a delightful spokesperson for the cause. Then Colbert admitted that he went vegan 7 months ago but wasn't 100%. I think it is such a brave and responsible move when a celebrity admits to being or even saying the word. Go Stephen! Alicia's response was perfect. I think that any person's attempt to move toward a vegan diet should be supported and encouraged.  Her website is called the Kind Life. Check it out. I hope people are inspired by their conversation to at least try some of these alternate 'meats' - seitan, tempe, tofu - they can be made into some very tasty meals. I hope they can feel the same peace that I feel when I don't support the industries that treat animals so cruelly. I hope we see more of this on mainstream media.

Random thoughts after too long

NO MORE PICTURES, PEOPLE!!!

 OK here is Dylan, our cat that was a rescued cat who my daughter was fostering. When she moved out of town, we adopted him. He is a sweetheart except when he comes in our bed to wake us up a few times a night.
                                                          

Wow Angus is eating out a bowl all by himself!!!

 Angus was like our new little brother and we pretty much watched everything he did. Look, everybody, he is eating food out of a dish. My brother said, "Can I try that too?" Don't think my Mom thought that would be a very good idea. We were all in love with that feisty little fella!           




Bach was Angus's favorite

 Little sister was the youngest and she kind of claimed Angus for her own. He slept in her bed and followed her everywhere. He did play with the rest of us once in a while, but they were inseparable. Here Angus is grooving on the tunes my sister was playing on the piano. 

Some random thoughts about animals. Lately I have been sad about something good. When a lion is killed in the wild or one animal is saved from cruelty or farm animals are rescued and taken in by a farm sanctuary, so many people feel the outrage about the abuse and disregard for the lives of these animals. I go to the state fair and see the baby chick exhibit. The little children love to watch the chicks hatch and walk around and think they are incredibly cute. If that child knew that one day soon that cute chick will be either on their plate for dinner or their eggs will be and in the egg industry the males will be summarily disposed of. Everyone loves the cows and all the cute animals. The number of animals that are slaughtered every day in this world and the conditions under which it happens is just not out there in the mainstream. So now when I read about the outrage or the rescue of one or a few animals, I too am happy that people are aware and that some of these animals will lead a good life. But then I get dismayed that no one seems to display the same outrage when they don't make the connection between what they feel and what they are eating on their plates day after day without feeling compassion and outrage at so many animals being slaughtered. Sometimes I just don't understand how easy it is for some people to live in denial about many things. Once I found out about how our animal agriculture operates - the abuse, the treating of a living being as a product - dragging a calf away from its mother so customers get the milk and not the baby, I could not look away or be in denial. I became vegan.

 

 I try to remain hopeful because things are changing but when I hear the outrage at the dentist who killed the lion, I just want to shout at everyone. How do you think that cow, pig or chicken gets to your plate every day? Someone is killing that animal for you to eat. Where is your outrage about that?

 

Well, that is my rant for today and will sign off now. I have been wanting to share this for a long time.

Compassion for all !