Give Thanks!

I am thankful for each and every Vegan. Enjoy your holiday please.

Time to advocate.

It isn't long until the holiday that revolves around killing and calling it a celebration.  I really like the variation given by changing the first g to an l and calling it Thanksliving! Because celebrations are about life...not killing innocent beings.

Someone shared this captioned photo on facebook and I thought it was exactly on the mark.

So...I'm posting to urge you to write your local paper advocating for a non-harmful Thanksliving celebration. I did...and it was published. I'll copy it below and if you want...feel free to use it...you can save yourself the effort of coming up with your own letter (mine isn't great but it gets the message across). You could likely do much better...but if you don't want to...feel free to copy and modify this one to fit your area.

Please speak up for these feathered folks. I believe it is important to get awareness about this wrong out in front of people...and the local newspaper is one way to do it.

Wouldn't it be great if every newspaper in the country, every year, had at least one letter objecting to the harming of the innocents around this holiday?

Thanks ahead of time. And Happy Thanksliving to you and yours. And go vegan if you haven't already...and if you have...hooray for you!

Letter:

Editor, The Transcript:

 Make it Thanksliving.

The upcoming annual national holiday usually includes eating the flesh of a sensitive, intelligent and playful animal. Those birds are killed after only a few brief months of miserable living, so having a turkey dinner means eating the body of a baby that led a short and suffering filled life. Yuck, that doesn’t sound like much of a time of thanks for them or for anyone with a modest degree of compassion.

Luckily, the number and variety of plant-based food items available that allow a family to prepare a tasty, festive and abundant meal are readily available at the Earth grocery and other Norman area food merchants. In addition, readers can visit the website of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine to find plant based Thanksgiving meal tips or they can browse tryveg.org for a wide range of food suggestions and recipes. Our own Oklahoma Vegetarian group also has an excellent resource page for accessing recipes that are tasty, healthy and cruelty-free.

After all, if you can live a happy and healthy life without harming anyone else, why wouldn’t you? Please consider making this holiday occasion one that doesn’t involve the death of innocent beings. Happy Thanksliving wishes to all.

Several things to consider.

First I want to bring attention to the carnage we inflict on our fellow beings with those metal monstrosities we use to get around with...automobiles. I found a couple of resources that provide some tips on reducing the chances of harming others when you're driving. You can read them here and here. Slow down, stay focused on your driving...please.

Next...we are in the month of culturally celebrated carnage...that "holiday" that centers around the murder of turkeys. For me this time has rapidly morphed into a dreaded experience because of all the killing and the juxtapositioning of happiness and togetherness and celebration with the horror of the killing. However...this year there's something a little different being injected into the cultural cacophony. While I have not seen it myself, there is a new children's animated movie out called Free Birds. One description of the story:  "The movie tells the story of two turkeys, Reggie and Jake, who travel back in time to take turkey off the first Thanksgiving menu — and save billions of lives going forward."

I'm really impressed that this movie has popped up on the scene...if it indeed does present a clear objection to killing. I hope it is as is advertised and if so it offers a glimmer of hope during a rather grim season. Apparently the Farm Sanctuary thought enough of it to partner with the movie folks for the Farm Sanctuary Adopt A Turkey campaign.  Cool beans!

And finally just a little piece of writing I ran across that presented some studies about differences in visual perception between human females and human males. Apparently "...guys required a slightly longer wavelength of a color to experience the same shade as women and the men were less able to tell the difference between hues." It made me feel a little better about being fashion and decorating challenged.

If you get a chance, please write a letter to your local newspaper urging a Thanksliving holiday...killing is no reason for a celebration. And...if you're living vegan...thank you....and if you aren't....well....there's no better time to start than now.