Vegans visiting Vegans.

It was a first for Heartland Rabbit Rescue. A few weeks ago several members of the Red Earth Vegans of central Oklahoma chose to visit HRR.

REV, a recently formed group of vegan advocates and activists who, as part of their mission, wanted to become familiar with and to help the various organizations in the area that are devoted to rescuing/sheltering the victims of human depravity.

Getting ready for a group visit is sort of like having company come to your house...lots of picking up and tidying in addition to your usual tasks. Several faithful HRR supporters pitched in and helped with the extra effort but as usual the brunt was carried by Jeannie (the director) and Brad (her husband).

The bunnies are usually interested when visitors come because that often means treats for them and this visit was no exception...carrots were shared with everyone who wanted them and peas with those who had different tastes.

Buckley takes his carrot from Gillian.

It is always an interesting experience when we have visitors. This group was particularly unique in that all were vegans of the ethical type hence their perspective was different than most who come to encounter the Heartland rabbits.

First time visitors have no idea what to expect when they arrive...and...many of the rabbits are always a little anxious when meeting strangers.

Mark (human vegan) and Judy (donkey) in foreground.

In the past there have been some disconcerting happenings when HRR has visitors so it can be a little...well, not tense really...just sort of full of anticipation.

By disconcerting I mean the time (I was told about this, I wasn't present) a visitor casually reached over into one of the bunny enclosures and started picking up one of the bunnies by the scruff of the neck like kittens or puppies are sometimes lifted. This was a visitor who thought she knew all about rabbits and was perfectly self-assured that she knew how to "handle" a bunny. Often those who think they know about the rabbit tribe are humans who have the most misinformation and pose a real risk to rabbit safety. Rabbit mothers do not carry their babies the way mom cats and mom dogs do and rabbit physiology is not conducive to being manipulated in this way. A danger of serious injury to a rabbit exists if one is picked up by the skin on neck/back area. Picking up a bunny, even correctly, is always a tricky and somewhat risky maneuver...doing it carelessly or ignorantly can lead to disaster.

This woman was thoroughly mis-informed and, as is often the case with those brimming with erroneous information, absolutely certain that she knew what she was doing. So...visitors are fun...but....

That wasn't the case this day. I kept noticing a different feel to the atmosphere (compared to other visiting events) but I couldn't figure out what it was until some time passed. Finally I realized that the difference was that each of these people had already made the leap to grasping that each living being is an individual and that each living being is worthy of value and respect simply by virtue of their existence. They weren't meeting "animals" or "things" or an "it". They were meeting unique and complex and feeling beings who were different from them and also the same (in many ways) as them.

It was a really powerful experience for me to see a whole group of humans approach these former victims of human neglect, greed and callousness with interest and respect and care and without condescension or entitlement or patronization or superiority.  Those latter attitudes are ingrained in most of us throughout our lives as "appropriate" ways of viewing and interacting with Earthlings who aren't human. There was none of that present during the visit. I was truly blown away. It was terrific and exciting and just impossible to reduce to mere words.

Griffin 'pancakes' for rubs from Amanda.

The visitors were attentive and eager to learn and to help and pitched in on some cleaning and other tasks...but one of the most important things that visitors can provide for bunnies is interaction.

Humans tend to view 'petting' as a casual, optional kind of thing but providing socialization and contact comfort experiences for the bunnies is very important and one of the most needed yet often underdone because it is so time intensive and other tasks are so pressing.

Consider...there are more than 100 bunnies currently living at HRR, if 5 minutes of interaction were to be given to each resident that would take one human more than 8 hours to achieve each day. Scenario that out to 7 days a week then you're talking more than 56 hours...every week. Couple that with the time needed for the necessary daily tasks of providing food, water, hay, cleaning, nail-trimming, medical attention and on and on. You get the idea...there just isn't enough time. So...whenever extra kind and caring hands are available it is a major boon.

Cleaning.

The group members were helpful in many other ways too, including pitching in with some of the near constant sweeping that is required.

I noticed that many of the bunnies were not as shy or apprehensive as they often are when meeting new people. That's just an impression and obviously it could be wrong but it might accurate and maybe...just maybe it could be because the bunnies knew their visitors were vegan.

Consider the results of this study...it suggests that even poor smellers like human animals can detect differences between the body odors of those who eat meat and those who don't. Rabbits have about 20x more cells devoted to olfactory detection than do humans...hence it is not unlikely that the bunnies knew they were being visited by folks who don't routinely ingest the results of violence against others...or at least don't smell as unpleasant as those who do.

Buckley (bunny) and Sandy (human vegan).

So, the bunnies had carrots and attention and massages from nice smelling humans...what a day!

The bunnies recognized (nose-wise and attitude-wise) that this group was different. The whole experience was unique and very very positive.

It made my brain start running out scenarios...for instance...maybe it would be a good idea for vegan groups or individuals everywhere to start making trips to rescues and sanctuaries (especially those facilities that aren't vegan) on a regular basis. To serve as ambassadors and carry the message to our fellow Earthlings that not all humans routinely harm others. Think about the residents of those rescues and sanctuaries who provide refuge for the 'domesticated' Earthlings who are routinely harmed or killed by human animals...the 'farmed' beings. It might be an uplifting experience for them to discover that all human beings aren't eaters of beings, or that their rescuers aren't the only vegan humans on the planet.

What would it be like if you lived among beings who controlled everything you did...who had power over you...and also killed and ate your relatives (and/or you)...and you never knew that some of those beings with power were harmless...were conscientious objectors in the war on you and your kind...who didn't kill or eat living beings. It would be like living in a nightmare and never knowing that the originators of that nightmare could be any different. How awful, how terribly and deeply awful.

Marie (bunny) and Angie (human vegan).

To bring a glimpse of hope, a crack of light to a world of human created darkness, can't be a bad thing. It isn't often we have the opportunity to do these sorts of things but if you become the first  vegan an Earthling meets. Well, there ya go.

Consider how few vegans there are (relatively speaking) and how many human harmed beings there are. How many of the victims died never having met any humans who were their allies?

The HRR residents interact with human vegans daily, on this occasion they were able to meet and interact with many human vegans. The whole day was one of smiles and good feelings. It can be difficult to detect duck smiles...but they were there.

Duck smiles all around (green peas in water...a big treat)

A big thank you to all the Red Earth Vegans who visited and comforted and gave smiles to those who live at Heartland...thank you for the visiting and the comforting and the smiles and thank you most especially for living vegan. Your way of life brings light to the darkness created by human harm. And...if you are vegan consider making regular visits to the places where our sister and brother Earthlings are rescued. Their meeting you just might be a first for them. And...if the human operators of the rescue aren't living vegan...then it's an opportunity to show them that vegans aren't only harmless, they're helpers too.

Thank you Amanda, Angie, Gillian, Gina, Mark and Sandy.

The recent holiday

hasn't been mentioned here for a number of reasons...the main one being that being retired sort of makes holidays superfluous. Where holiday used to mean not having to go to work and being free to do whatever I choose...well...that's pretty much every day now. It's almost as much fun as being a kid on summer vacation.

So...holidays don't carry the same sort of connotation for me as they used to. But, it turns out the occasion prompted a couple of posts on blogs that I really enjoyed reading and maybe you will too. The first was written by Lee Hall over at her blog called Vegan Place and it is about Dorothy and Donald Watson and remembering where vegan (the word) originated. While many different human animals have worked towards recognizing the equality of all beings (in terms of rights to their own lives and freedom) over many centuries...the word that encompassed so much in so few letters didn't exist until it was formulated by the Watsons. This is a lovely post giving us a view of these terrific people and reminding us that we owe much to those who came before us and that these two are definitely stars in that group.

The second holiday posting that caught my attention was put up by a true friend of all Earthlings, Bea, over on her Once Upon A Vegan blog. In her writing she reminds us of the death often associated with this day...not of those who are being remembered but the lives lost to provide "food" for the holiday. You also will get a glimpse of a truly spectacular mobile billboard for veganism. Yea Bea!

As I was working on this I happened to notice the return of an old blogging friend. Andrew, who writes on his blog We're All Animals. He hasn't put up a post in a long long time and it was a very happy moment when I saw that he had shared some of his writing...some of what he shared is sad making truth. it is very very good to hear from him again.

One of my favorite posts ever over at the So I'm Thinking of Going Vegan blog notices something that only someone with a keen eye and mind would spot. Any writing that can connect hairy legs and veganism should be known to the whole world. I love it.

Finally, D.E.M. writing at her blog Animal Rights reminds us that part of what we do now is in the hopes of making the future better than the present. Living vegan can be demanding at times, living vegan and raising a human child involves all sorts of additional issues and this post does a lovely job of touching on some of them.

I didn't start out to blog about blogs, but it just sort of turned out that way. There are other great blogs out there that are created and maintained by excellent writers so this posting is not comprehensive by any means but it started out with wanting to mark the holiday by steering folks to Lee Hall's remembrance of the Watsons and just sort of went from there. I hope you enjoy the writings.

If you want to enjoy your life...do...and allow others to enjoy theirs by living vegan. All the best human animals live that way.

A thought experiment.

A thought experiment refers to the consideration of some hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences.

What would happen if you took 20,000 human animals and divide them into two equal groups. Make them all, say, 10 years old and equally divided between the sexes. So...you have 2 groups of 10,000 humans each (who are all 10 years old). Now...for the next 50 years one group can only eat plant based foods and the other group can only eat animal based foods. The only other stricture or condition is that no fire/heat can be used on the food. In other words, no cooking or any other application of heat to the food is allowed.

What would the groups look like (in terms of health, survival rate, etc) in 50 years? The survivors from each group would be 60 years old.

As a variant, do the same thought experiment except this time allow cooking. Actually you can find folks who have done at least the plant based food side of it...for example....Donald Watson founded the Vegan society in 1944 and died in 2005. That means he apparently lived at least 61 years on only a plant based diet. I don't know of any members of a group that only lived on an animal based diet...there might be...I just don't know about them.

It isn't difficult to see that healthy survival (e.g., Donald Watson) is easily possible on a purely plant based diet...but healthy survival for 61 years on an purely animal based diet is rather unlikely.

I can't vouch for accuracy here, but it is interesting.

Here's a link to the original graphic and here's a link to a written comparison of digestive tracts (written by a M.D.) for those who might want to explore further.

So...next time someone trots out the notion that humans are "carnivores" you might suggest the thought experiment (the one without the cooking) and see if that doesn't throw a little kink in that notion.

The only way we're "carnivores" (other than maybe eating bugs or worms) is with the assistance of technology (heat). Killing our fellow Earthlings and eating their bodies is about as natural for human animals as flying is...both require technological assistance to be accomplished to any meaningful degree. You can jump off a roof (unassisted by any technology) and "fly" for a short time...but the end result probably won't be enjoyable.

In the meantime, live vegan and you won't need to worry about your healthy survival being negatively impacted by your food choices...and your fellow Earthlings won't have their healthy survival negatively impacted by your food choices either. That's a win-win for everyone.

What we take...

from the other animals is incalculable. This photo is one of the most poignant images I've ever seen in my whole life. Ever. It combines beauty as well as loss.

Maggie and the sunset.

The bunny's name is Maggie and Christina W. (a thoroughly serious bunny friend) took the photo at Heartland. A child of Mother Earth looking through a fence...watching the setting of the sun that warms her and her planet.

The fence is there for her protection...because...while she is a child of the Earth she can't live on her own. She would die without others to take care of her...even though she is an adult and theoretically capable of being an independent resident here on this planet. And...while the fence protects...it also confines.

She can't live on her own because we humans manipulated generations of her ancestors to cause her to be born with that fluffy long covering of hair (fur)...and... manipulated the color of that hair. A white prey animal not in an arctic setting doesn't last long. Any being with a covering of hair that they cannot groom and maintain themselves is not going to last long. If a predator doesn't kill them, the matting and subsequent pulling and tearing of the skin will either drive them mad with pain or infection will set in and death will follow. She is doomed to dependency...for her to live she must be cared for by someone else. For all of her years of life she has been robbed of the ability to live independently.

Maggie is a beautiful being...with no capability of living autonomously away from human animals who will look out for her. The photo captures her beauty and her diminishment and it presents the beauty of the planet she has been denied. All in one exquisite and tragic scene.

Maggie doing what grooming she can.

I've come to realize that one of the ways you can (almost invariably) identify a fellow animal who has been diminished by humans is, once those animals reach adulthood, a fairly high percentage of people (and it is usually women who are willing to do this) who see them exclaim something like: "Oh, isn't she (he) cute!". I specify adult animals because...let's face it...almost all babies are cute. But the bunnies with drooping ears, very long fur, very tiny body size...and on and on...all of these are handicaps deliberately encouraged by manipulation of sexual pairings just for the purpose of human whim.

We call this sort of despicable behavior "breeding"...remember though, that just a word to obscure what is actually being done...forced inbreeding. It is exactly the kind of thinking that drove the "racial" policies of the Hitler era in Germany. It is rationality untethered to full consideration of reality...and when you have that...you and all other living beings and environments would do well to run like hell because what is going to happen is not going to be nice...but the resultant beings might be seen as "cute" (or "profitable" or useful or whatever).

No thought or care for what price the beings are paying, no consideration of the fact that, in addition to the physical handicaps inflicted on the bunny, dog, horse, cat, etc., inbreeding almost invariably introduces defects in immune system functioning and also organ and/or dental and/or skeletal and/or mental defects. Nope...cute, attractive, cuddly, desirable (to human animals)...these are the driving motives and to hell with the price Maggie is paying.

There's a degree of hubris involved in doing these things to living beings for our own desires that is of such a monstrous enormity that I can hardly wrap my mind around it. We're a scary bunch of primates and that photo exemplifies our terrifying ability to inflict horror on a living being, horror of untold depth and...when we see the results we say "isn't she cute?". We scare the crap out of me.

Take the easy way out of creating tragedy and horror and misery and death, live vegan. Maggie will thank you (although it is too late for her) and all other children of Mother Earth will thank you. Well...Maggie might not thank you...she might ask why did you let this happen? (and who can blame her).

Reading...

has been an activity that has been with me a long long time and has brought me much...in many many ways. I read...often...and a lot. I read lots of "mind candy", fiction books without much import nor insight or wisdom in them. Not that fiction can't contain all those things...and the best fiction does...it's just that light reading is what I do before sleeping and I try diligently to sleep pretty much every day.

The field I worked in (psychology and counseling) demanded lots of reading and over the decades I read many articles and books related to that and then when I eased over into teaching computer programming that required tons of reading in a brand new subject area...in addition to keeping up with whatever was going on in psychology. Fiction served as a break from academic writing and it has been something that continues to be a constant source of mild (and sometimes profound) pleasure. For instance, one of the absolute best writers living today is a fellow named J. M. Coetzee...if you want to see fiction illustrating truths...you would have a hard time finding better than his work. (especially his book Elizabeth Costello)

Then came veganism. Ouch. I say ouch because snapping into seeing and comprehending and understanding the world without the crutch of human exceptionalism...or at least trying to divest myself of the distortions and stupidities engendered by this fantasy...has really played havoc with my reading. I alluded to this recently and I'm touching on it again because it seems to be so dreadfully ubiquitous.

I seem to be stumbling into writing semi-regularly about not what I've read...but about what I didn't read and why I didn't read it...sort of a guide to being un-read (as opposed to well-read) and reasons for cultivating such a status. Hmmm.....

I recently obtained a copy of a book called "How Animals Grieve" by Barbara J. King. I was looking forward to reading this and jumped into it as soon as it arrived. By page 5 I started feeling some unease when I read: "The terms "chicken intelligence" and "chicken personality" struck me as oxymoronic, not reasonable descriptions of chicken reality." Now granted, I am/was as immersed in the delusion of human exceptionalism as anyone but undergraduate and graduate studies taught me, quite clearly, that "intelligence" was obviously a relative thing (as well as a human created concept) and that no living organism on this planet existed that didn't possess "intelligence"...yet here is this highly educated person writing that she didn't think chickens possessed intelligence. That might be ok for an uneducated human animal to think...but not someone with a Ph.D.

I kept on reading but page 7 produced this bit: "In writing about animal bereavement, I walk a line stretched taut between two poles. The first is this wish to recognize the emotional lives of other animals. The other is my need to honor human uniqueness." I added the underlining. I stopped reading soon thereafter. When I read that underlined phrase I flashed back on the book title...and thought...she isn't writing a book about the grieving of animals who don't happen to be human...she's writing a book driven by a need to honor human "uniqueness" and she's going to reference grief from the other living beings to do so. I appreciate her honesty and I wonder whether she grasps just how honest a statement that was.

And so I stopped reading. At this point I'm not really interested in reading (with some exceptions) supposedly serious and non-fiction material about living beings that starts off from such a profoundly biased position. I'm just not. To me that would be very similar to reading a book supposedly about human females and their characteristics from an avowed male chauvinist or reading a book about African Americans from an openly racist author. What little accurate information that would or might be presented in those instances would be immersed in and drenched by the ugliness of prejudice and bias surrounding it.

I just don't have the stomach right now to wade around in, what now seems to me to be, silliness masquerading as seriousness. This author may have much to say that is valuable or necessary or interesting...I don't know...I'm not making that kind of judgement. Others may enjoy her work(s) and her observations but I just don't want to subject myself to it. It's too disturbing and sad-making to me...that might change in the future but right now that's just now where I am.

It seems disrespectful and somehow nasty to title a book "How Animals Grieve" and then write that she "needs to honor human uniqueness". I'll give her points for honesty in that statement but I suspicion that the honesty was inadvertent. A better title might have been "The Uniqueness of Humans, as Shown by the Grief of All Other Animals". (she also flunked the index test)

And believe me...our sister and brother animals have a lot to feel grief about as a result of the silly and sad "uniqueness" we ascribe to ourselves. Drop some of your bigger delusions, go vegan, and do your best to quit giving others reason to grieve.

In Honor of all Human UnMothers

On my behalf and on behalf of all sentient beings I want to thank and honor all of you human animal females who have avoided becoming mothers...especially those who are living vegan. Thank you Thank you and Thank you! You have chosen to not participate in or contribute to the ongoing and accelerating destruction of most of the current habitat and environment of the planet Earth. This time of the year is mostly devoted to thanking Mothers...but those who most deserve thanks are the UnMothers.

The human overpopulation of the planet is destroying other species and the environmental conditions necessary to support Earth's species at an astonishing rate. The most significant things any human animal can do to reduce their negative impact on the ecosystem is to not reproduce and to live vegan.

When scientists talk about overpopulation, they are usually referring to a population exceeding its biological carrying capacity which is defined as "the maximum number of animals that a specific habitat or area can support without causing deterioration or degradation of that habitat.” 

 Look at the bottom left corner of the graph, it is estimated that the human population of the planet exceeded 1 billion in 1804. In general, thought suggests that a human population of around 500 million (in other words, a population of humans half of the 1804 population) is a "sustainable" number of people. If you want to poke around, there is an abundance of information available...

What is important to remember is that every additional human animal on the planet means two things for our fellow Earthlings:

A. Less space and food (natural habitat) for other animals.
B. More animals killed for food by humans.

The direction of the number of human animals needs (for the sake of the planet, for our fellow Earthlings and for ourselves) to be decreasing, not increasing. We could make the number decrease by killing (and we are amazingly good at that) or by death from disease or starvation or whatever....or we could make the number decrease by not adding to it and letting death due to age begin to bring the number down. Obviously the least violent and painful way to make our numbers drop is to quit having so many children.

So...thanks is due to those courageous and heroic human females (inadvertently or not) who have had the generosity and vision to help all living beings by being UnMothers.  Your planet thanks you, your fellow Earthlings thank you...especially all mothers who aren't human animals, and I thank you. You are appreciated and valued and treasured.

Your not having children means you voted to have more tigers living in the wild instead of another McDonalds hamburger joint.

You voted to preserve, not to destroy. You voted for the future, not for the now. This is caring, this is concern, this is love...this is true "mothering". Be impressed with yourselves, you should be...we all should be. Thank you!!!
So remember this...when you encounter a human animal who lives vegan you are encountering someone living in a manner that tries to reduce the pain and misery of all Earthlings...when you encounter a human animal who lives vegan and who has opted to remain childless....well...just wow.

This post is somewhat of a repeat of an earlier honor to UnMothers...in the meantime I've been lucky enough to meet several women who opted to live the role of an UnMother and they enlightened me about something I'd not thought of before. Apparently women who don't become mothers tend to get lots of comments and nudges about this. "When are you going to have a child?" is probably one of the least offensive ones. I admit to being rather stunned...and truthfully...rather angered when I heard this.

And yet...such obtuseness is way too often characteristic of our times. Where, more often than not, the default or expected position or behavior is a destructive and unconsidered one and when thoughtfulness or astuteness or kindness or concern for anything or anyone more than ones own self is met with skepticism or derision or rejection. Anyone asking "when are you going to have a child" may be exposing their own small-minded ignorance and absence of concern for Mother Earth and all her Earthlings.

If mothering is about caring then vegan UnMothers exhibit care most of all.

Consumerism...

is defined as: "a social and economic order and ideology that encourages the purchase of goods and services in ever-greater amounts."

I spent my last few years working as a numbers/database wonk and the data I sliced and diced mainly had to to with people who accessed mental health services. There was, during that time, a concerted effort to change the term used to refer to people who used M.H. services from client to consumer. The first time I heard that sort of goofy sounding word "consumer"...I thought it was a joke. It wasn't.

There's a bit of history here. I'll do a very brief summary (necessarily incomplete and inadequate). The word patient has some connotations that Carl Rogers (an influential...and quite interesting and insightful) American psychologist objected to and he pushed fairly successfully for referring to the people seen by psychotherapists and psychiatrists as clients instead of patients. Patient carries the connotation of a supplicant seeking assistance from an expert as well as medicalizing the notion of psychotherapy. Dr. Rogers felt that an individual was the expert about their own life and the term patient disregarded that fact and hence he advocated a more neutral term like client...he eventually called his therapeutic approach "client-centered" and later still just called that approach "person-centered".

I lived through the transition of terminology from "patient" to "client" (not complete, by any means) and here I was seeing a push for a terminology change from one which was designed to empower and recognize the individuals expertise about themselves to a term designed to fit the person into some sort of business/marketing model of the world.

Although curiously, when pressed, those advocating for this change really didn't know why they wanted it, just that "client" sounded old-fashioned and consumer sounded, well, business-like or something. One argument for the change was that it "empowered" individuals by making them into "customers".

As far as I can see the change is one from a structure or equality to a hierarchical one...i.e. whomever has the most purchasing power wins. Fifty thousand customers spending ten dollars each is trumped by one customer spending one million dollars. In other words, the idea that all "consumers" are equal is erroneous...but...this notion that the "market" is "empowering" is one of the persistent (and misleading) myths of our times.

That's no kind of "empowerment" I want anything to do with. At the core it encourages...no....demands...greed, i.e. those with the most money exert the most influence. Unless...there is a system in place that ensures that all purchasing power is equal for all "customers". But...it never includes that provision.

What in hell does this have to do with veganism? Well actually, I think maybe a whole whole lot. When the Donald Watson group defined vegan they referred to the exploitation of animals. A vegan human society/culture is going to necessitate much more of a change than is often thought.

The whole idea of "using" must be drastically re-examined...and maybe even done away with. Consumerism/exploitation/business/marketing/advertizing/profit...all those things/concepts/approaches are going to face major revision or maybe virtual elimination in order to achieve a standard of human behavior that doesn't include harming/using others and/or harming/destroying the place where we live. A standard where justice and/or fairness and/or harmlessness is the measure of value...not money or "markets".

I've been struggling with writing this post for several weeks and interestingly I recently ran across some other writing that included some lines that resonated for me:

 "...we cannot get even close to what we want as vegans within the present social and economic structure. A wider, more systemic vision of social change is necessary if we are really serious about bringing about the liberation of all animals, and determined to protect the environment."

This is from a blog called On Human-Nonhuman relations written by Roger Yates who is a sociologist and a long time (really long time) vegan.

This vegan thing just might mean much much more than it appears if we want to achieve a "life-centered" or "Earthling-centered" human society.

Words and Actions.

If what you say isn't what you do...then it's confusing both for others...and...even for yourself. One way that we can avoid clearly comprehending things is to be confused.

Never forget that your standing up for our fellow Earthlings...no matter how you do it...has an effect. You might not see it right then....but it does.

Veganism isn't a diet...it is a profoundly transforming way of living in relation to your planet and her children. It is the single most important undertaking you can ever hope to achieve. It is the only way to be a cherished and honorable member of the community of life.

The real harm is done by those who passively accept what is and "go with the flow". You risk nothing except some discomfort and some changing of habits in order to join the community of life. Ms. Scholl paid with her life to speak up against wrong...for you to opt out of injustice means behaving a bit differently at the store.

Are you one of the oppressors or are you one whose way of life is that of a just being? There is no in-between...and...it is all up to you. You are/will be one or the other. There's no getting to sit this one out or to not take a side. You either harm the innocent...or you don't.

Contradictions...

I saw this online and thought it was very very apt. I got a major hoot out of it...maybe you will too.

I'm profoundly impressed by those brave and excellent humans who are raising their children as vegans. Doing that takes a special kind of fortitude and courage and I salute and honor each and every one doing this service for their child and...in the process...for all the rest of planet Earth.

Think of it this way, there are many many more humans out there who are raising their children (usually the boys, but sometimes girls too) to "hunt". Now think of whether these parents...who are teaching their children to kill other living beings...beings who are doing them no harm and are simply trying to live their lives. Think of these parents and consider whether they ever receive any flack about "brainwashing" their children. Or any sort of negative feedback whatsoever. I betcha it is either minimal or nonextant.

I'm not even going to address the obvious absence of any negative feedback to parents who raise their children to eat the dead bodies of beings who lived briefly in horrid conditions and were then killed for "profit". Who says a word about such "normal" parenting? (aside from maybe us "weird" vegans)

So...raising a child to be kind...to be consistent...to show respect and to be non-harmful to others likely elicits accusations of "brainwashing" and raising a child to harm others and support oppression and horror is...well...normal.

If that doesn't make you reconsider whether "normal" is necessarily a positive...well...you might want to take your reconsider engine in for a tune-up.

In the meantime...if you are a vegan parent raising vegan children...wow...I'm in awe of your courage and your determination. Thank you. Please give yourself a pat on the back and a hug from me. You are amazing.

Prophets and bathroom walls...

Way way back in the mists of time, when I was profoundly younger than now, there were many many songs floating around that carried themes of discontent about human society. For instance there was a children's song in 1963 called "Puff the Magic Dragon" (by Peter, Paul and Mary) that was reputed to have all sorts of hidden and subversive meanings associated with it.

A couple of years later Simon and Garfunkel wrote a song that was and is one of my favorites of all time, The Sounds of Silence. In the song, one passage has these words:

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"

I recalled that particular passage when I ran across a photo included in this post over at the blog called The Sistah Vegan Project (written by Breeze Harper). The  photo was of some writing on a bathroom wall in a building where she was attending a conference. (I'm placing a copy of the photo below but if she doesn't want me to use it I will remove it...you can also see the photo if you click on the link to the post)

Bathroom wall...photo by Breeze Harper

The various scribblings/writings include both the words "vegan" and "speciesism". Maybe, just maybe...the "words of the prophets" are also written on the bathroom walls.

The vegan meme is spreading...in the way too few years I've been vegan I've seen a tremendous change and having those words show up on a bathroom wall...well...that's actually pretty impressive. Of course this bathroom wall apparently was at a fairly erudite place...but still.

Do your part...not by writing vegan on the bathroom walls (or subway and tenement walls)...live vegan...and while you're at it...quit bowing and praying to the neon gods too. (what the heck, go ahead and write on the walls too if the urge moves you)

Afflicting the comfortable...

is part of a phrase I like that describes one of the effects of a protest on behalf of victimized Earthlings. A second part of the phrase is "...comforting the afflicted". I didn't know the author until doing some research via the magic of the internet. It is attributed to a fellow named Finley Peter Dunne who was writing about the power of newspapers (according to the wikipedia article). You can read some of his writing online if you want.

OKC circus protest...3-29-2014

This past weekend saw the Shriner's circus make their swing through Oklahoma City and because of the efforts of a few dedicated folks in the area a group of us got together to ensure that the event didn't happen without some accurate information being presented to those attending.

Standing and holding up a sign while car after car goes past gives you a lot of time to think. I noticed that many people would stare intently at the signs and the protesters. After awhile the whole experience became a little surreal (we stood at the entrance before the start of 3 scheduled shows). Having that many people staring at you while moving by must be a little bit like what happens to the prisoners in zoos...no wonder they often appear to be bored and spaced out.

Many looked disturbed as they drove by and that's when it occured to me that one of the things we wanted to happen is described by that phrase "afflicting the comfortable". It just is not ok for something based on fear and pain and confinement and misery to happen and that happening be promoted and publicized as a happy, festive event without some countering voice. Challenging culturally supported distortions, lies and untruths is an obligation we all share. At least that's what I believe. Protesting on behalf of circus prisoners kicks a cultural fantasy in a tender place (reality). And...it is another way of trying to say something "well enough".

Some people honked, some gave a thumbs up, some stopped and took literature we were passing out, most ignored us but some shouted some really really peculiar things. One fellow shouted out that he was a hunter and liked to kill animals. Someone noticed that this same shouter had a confederate flag sticker on his bumper. Killing the innocent and support for human slavery do seem to go together. The most interesting yelling came from a disturbed looking older woman who shouted at us to "get a job, get a real job". It struck me that maybe she was saying that if people were enslaved intensely enough by their work then they wouldn't be objecting to anything...much less cruelty. Maybe that's true.

While driving up to the first protest last Saturday I found my self getting sadder and sadder and what I realized that this was a sad sad thing. What is done to the elephants and tigers and lions and all the other prisoners of that circus is sad, that such things can be done is sad and saddest of all is that the great majority of us see nothing sad at all about it. And rarely does anyone object.

But we did and in the midst of all that sadness something very uplifting and happy making occurred. I met some people who seem to feel very much like I do about hurting others...and that was exciting and nearly giddy making. Several of us talked about why we were there and why we were vegan and it felt phenomenal to know there were others (besides the very very few that I know or have met) who felt much like I did.

That was a very unexpected bonus. The only other AR protests I've participated in were organized by Mercy For Animals and they were fine and welcome but they were also very scripted and, I don't know, sort of stilted or something. They weren't homegrown like this one was nor was there much interaction between the folks that showed up to object to how we treated our fellow Earthlings. This one was all Okie, and the fine folks that pulled it together, who put together the signs, who coordinated the where, when and how were energetic young people from Norman and OKC and Edmond and Yukon and Midwest City and and. It was, in those respects, just fantastic...even though what caused it was not a good or happy thing (a circus "using" living beings without their consent).

So. The bad (a circus) resulted, in an odd way, in a good...a little convocation of rather like-minded human animals and that was an enjoyable and lovely aspect to what was/is an otherwise bleak and sad and dismal thing (harming those with less power). One of the young women there was quite vocal and would ask people to not take their children to see cruelty or ask them if they wanted literature. She was quite energetic and managed to never tump over into being obnoxious or objectionable. One loud remark that came out of her cracked me up, enough so that I smile as I write about it, she shouted at someone: "Do you want to see me hug a tree?" That was a gem.

I'm very very grateful to everyone who came out and participated, to everyone who helped in ways small and large. We didn't stop any cruelty, but we were there and we spoke out...and somewhere....somehow...maybe those prisoners in that circus knew they weren't totally surrounded by humans who could care less what they felt but there were some who objected to what was being done to them. And maybe that was a small, very small, plus for them. And even if it wasn't...at least some of the comfortable had a taste of discomfort.

Want to do your part to help? Go vegan...and...if you get the chance (or can make the chance) go protest. Maybe somehow...someway...those for whom you protest will know...and...for certain you will know that you didn't stay silent when faced with injustice. And that's a good thing.

Do this please...

...copy the letter below, paste it into your word processing software and modify it to reflect the situation in your area and then send it off to the editor of your local newspaper as a letter to be published.

Dear Editor:

Over the next few weeks, many local adults will be tempted to buy an Easter rabbit for a beloved child, godchild, grandchild, niece, or nephew.  And a few months from now, our local animal shelters will be, as they are every year, inundated by a flood of cast-off bunnies.  Heartland Rabbit Rescue asks that everyone who is considering buying a rabbit this year stop and think about three important facts:

First, although rabbits can make wonderful pets, they are naturally fragile and easily frightened.  An active child who expects a cuddly pet can terrify or even injure a rabbit.

Second, a well cared for rabbit should live as long as a dog or cat (ten years or more) and will require just as much love, attention, and specialized veterinary (including spaying/neutering) care as a dog or cat would. No living being is a prop to “teach” responsibility, they are a commitment and an obligation...one often way beyond the capabilities, capacities and resources of a child. 

Third, just as there are countless dogs and cats without homes, so are there numerous rabbits who are languishing in shelters and rescues...often doomed to be killed unless adopted. Never buy a living being, if you wish to share your home with another species, visit your local rescue organizations and adopt in order to save a life.

If you want to make this Easter happy for a child (and for the Easter bunny too) don’t give a live rabbit, give a stuffed or vegan chocolate bunny instead and make a donation to one of the many excellent local animal rescues on their behalf.

Some form of the above example letter can serve as one of your contributions to activism on behalf of our fellow Earthlings. Make it an annual practice...your letter may save a life. Consciousness raising is a necessary activity in the quest for a vegan planet. Letters like this can assist in reducing ignorance and making invisible victims visible. (If you want, include a specific reference to baby chickens and ducks who are also at risk for being used as a "gift" during this time of year.)

Often this is a time of trepidation and worry for the rescues/sanctuaries who offer some place of safety for these victims because many operate on shoestring budgets supported only by donations and many of these facilities are at or over capacity and don't have room for more residents. Enrich your holiday by supporting these islands of safety and refuge any way you can and if they don't promote veganism...begin to gently educate them.

Images....

This photo of the face of a donkey knocked me out.

I saw this on facebook and was entranced...I did not research the origin of the image hence I'm not certain whether is has been manipulated or not...nevertheless it is a striking picture. (my thanks to the creator)

Finally, this graphic with a quote from Albert Schweitzer.

If you want to be an amazing human animal...live vegan...if you are already doing so...go look in the mirror and be amazed. (and please accept my thanks both from me and from those without human words).

The irony...

isn't lost on me. My last post was about how we human animals aren't particularly at ease with violence and yet....yesterday while chatting in the lobby of the local library...chatting with a relative stranger...I had to struggle hard to hold back my impulse to grab the man by the throat and shake/choke him. I was stunned by the rapidity of the desire as well as the incredible strength of it. I actually had to turn my body a little away from him to help me control myself. I felt a burning flush spread from the middle of my stomach to the top of my head. It was all so unexpected and so strong that it seemed almost surreal.

I was leaving the library after checking out an armload of books when I ran into a woman that I knew casually through my previous work. I hadn't seen her in 4 or 5 years and actually didn't recognize her until she said something. She was with her husband whom I had never met and we introduced ourselves and shook hands...all the usual doo dah that the culture/species calls for upon strangers meeting. The woman and I were chit chatting about what we had been doing over the past few years and I shared that I was spending time almost daily helping out at Heartland Rabbit Rescue. They were both surprised that there was such a thing as a rabbit rescue at all, much less in central Oklahoma...then the fun started.

The man said something to the effect of rabbits...they are what you eat aren't they? It was right there that I surprised the hell out of myself by almost attacking the guy who was trying (I suppose) to be funny. I was caught totally off guard by my powerful and rapid reaction. While holding back I was also trying to think of what to say...I guess my face/body showed something, I don't know. I responded by saying something to the effect that as far as I knew the only group on the planet that had said it was ok for humans to kill other beings were the humans...that I didn't know of any other animal that had said...hey humans...come and kill me....and I said that killing someone else was murder and I didn't think murder was ok at all. I then asked him if he knew what veganism was...he said he had heard the term but really didn't know...so I told him about what it meant and that we didn't have to eat animals to survive...that it was all some made-up crap we told ourselves to justify hurting others without looking like total a**holes.

He seemed to realize that I was having some strong feelings and maybe that I was angry...he became conciliatory sounding and appearing. He said he had hunted when he was younger but gave it up because he didn't like it and hadn't hunted in 30 years.

After a bit more chit-chat we did the good-bye thingee and went our separate ways. I've been churning on some level ever since. I truly was and am stunned at my response. I don't anger very easily...and I don't think about or feel like being violent toward others hardly ever. And yet...there it was. I'm still processing this...as I was sitting in the car I realized that his joking was the emotional equivalent...for me...of his saying that my wife or my sister or my father or mother  are what you hunt and eat. The rabbits of Heartland (and all rabbits) have become members of my family and I love them and if they're threatened (even jokingly) I respond with angry feelings/impulses.

It's been awhile since I've been in a situation where someone tried to be funny about killing...especially about killing rabbits (or any Earthling). I've changed...being vegan changes how I see the other animals...it's changed how I see people who hurt other animals...it's changed how I respond to jokes about hurting others. I'm changed and my reactions and responses have changed. And I wasn't a particularly good ambassador for veganism nor was I very articulate. It is probably always disconcerting when we encounter an aspect of ourself that we were unaware of. And I was genuinely discombobulated...and still am for that matter.

We may be uncomfortable with physical violence...I am...but that doesn't mean we don't have impulses to be violent. I did...I wanted to grab that guy so strongly I could almost taste it. But...I didn't. I stopped myself...I was even able to speak and be coherent (I think). We may want to be violent...but we don't have to be. That's the good thing.

My apologies to Darby and all bunnies and all the victims of human animals...I wasn't a very effective or convincing advocate on their behalf yesterday. I stumbled through the encounter and got away from it without behaving violently...I guess that's the best thing about it. Attacking strangers in the lobby of a library isn't a good way to advocate for living without harming others.

Please live vegan if you aren't already...but be forewarned...doing so will change you in more ways than you might know...it certainly has done that in my case.

Teach your children deux....

In part one of this theme, I did not provide much in the way of positives in terms of teaching human children (or adults for that matter). Bea Elliott, one of my greatly appreciated and esteemed readers, noted in her comment on the post that it was "an awful lot of awful evidence that things will always remain on the dismal slant." (some of Bea's fine work can be found here and here)

I really don't think things will always be slanted toward the dismal and there is much evidence that we human animals aren't naturally oriented in that direction. However, the fact is that we seem to be awfully susceptible to being snookered (by ourselves) into viewing our world in such ways that result in our behaving dismally...that's what I was trying to express.

We don't thrive in those sorts of circumstances however...violent and destructive and harmful behaviors aren't growth promoting ways of being nor are we particularly at ease with them. We may "adjust" to them (and often do) but it seems to cost most of us quite a bit. For instance, we have the ability to become 'desensitized' to violence...and that's troubling...yet what is hopeful here is the fact that we react to violence in the first place. In other words, we react negatively to exposure to violence and in order to be able to tolerate it we have to make some kind of adjustment and/or accommodation. Which strongly suggests that our baseline level of being is violence aversive. We naturally don't like it. We can "adjust" to it but the adjusting costs us in terms of emotional resources and effort.

Another very positive thing about we human animals is the fact that we make great efforts to hide places of violence and destruction from ourselves. Either by physically locating places of horror and harm out of sight...or by deluding and lying to our own perceptions and thereby pretending that they don't exist...or that they don't matter. It is not by accident that the great harmers, both of contemporary  and historical times, expend much effort on hiding what they do.

The massive Holocaust in Europe was not undertaken in Germany itself, rather the murder factories were established in out of the way places in Poland. The torture carried out by the United States in its "war" on terrorism is carried out in "dark" sites and hidden bases and remote locations. The agents of repression and intimidation are called "secret" police...in some unconscious recognition of our baseline revulsion at such activities. The proliferation of "ag-gag" efforts on the part of lawmakers here in the US is another instance of our knowing, without openly acknowledging, that the activities we are trying to hide are repulsive to most.

No, it isn't all dismal, nor do I believe it will always be...but our predilection to "other" those who differ from the in-power groups and then to denigrate and persecute the "others" is a strong strain in our make-up and one that we must struggle against constantly and diligently. Being cautious about the unfamiliar, being afraid of the novel...these are strategies that likely assisted in survival (in evolutionary terms)...yet these useful strategies are so terribly easily tumped over into demonization and hatred of and harm to the different.

No, it isn't all dismal, only the disturbed and the deficient aren't disturbed by violence...yet we seem to listen way too often to those who seek violence. We're a mixed bag of impulses and abilities and the voices and influence of the harmers seem to overwhelm those who seek not to harm...but it doesn't have to be that way.

The ultimate expression of commitment to equality and respect for all is veganism and the secret weapon that the vegan way of living has going for it is that we are animals who are disturbed by violence. It might be a small still voice, that disturbance...but it is natural and normal and it is the most reliable ally of a vegan world. Or so it seems to me.