Active Participants Needed

Seems maybe there was some sensitivity to a post I made praising vegans for bringing positive change to the world. Let me say this… I did not exclude anyone from the ability to make positive change in the world. However, there is no other group I can make such a blanket statement about (e.g. all women, all men, etc.).

If I meet 100 people randomly, many of them are not terribly engaged in the world, and most only see their small circle of reality. If I meet 100 vegans I guarantee you 98% (often 100%) are engaged and aware in many important world issues. Many are not only advocates for animals, but many are fighting against huge corporations, trying to protect your ‘right to know’, to ban or label GMOs, trying to force the media to report the truth, rallying for food safety, trying to save our oceans, spreading the word about preserving our future, saving lives, and fighting the encroachment of a complete takeover of our most precious resources – our food, our water, and our planet, amongst many other activities that indicates an involved, compassionate citizen. Vegans are CLEARLY fighting on behalf of all the NONvegans, even if the nonvegans are still sleeping.

Our government does not work for us, and hasn’t for a really long time, regardless of current party or power. Our system does not work for us. The media blatantly lies to us and often doesn’t cover the subjects critical for people to understand. People would not want to be a part of it if they knew. If people only let themselves understand…they wouldn’t want to be a part of it. Only the completely heartless would continue forward as if nothing were different, if they knew.

So, I am quite fed up with so many vegans being viewed as ‘negative’ or ‘extreme’ for telling the truth. Yes, it sucks to be told you are responsible for such horror, such devastation and destruction, and it sucks to be told you are wrong. The normal reaction of most is to rationalize or deny and absolve themselves of responsibility by explaining their irrational behavior, with the sentences all vegans have heard thousands of times (“it has always been like that” or “farmers love and respect their animals” or “you can’t get adequate protein from plants” or “God put the animals here for us to eat them” or “humans are born carnivores” [not scientifically true] or “if we stopped slaughtering, we’d be overrun by farm animals” [yes, really, we hear that all the time], or, just “yum, bacon”). There are others, too, but those are generally the most common EXCUSES. Yet, the true merit of these excuses is rarely analyzed (they are all empty, unscientific, and completely irrational).

Vegans grow tired of the excuses people make to convince themselves that it isn’t their fault, and are completely fed up with willful ignorance (inexcusable). We are frustrated in knowing what is happening with the other beings on Earth, and to our land, water, and air on a massive scale, and that this just isn’t very important to so many people. It is maddening at times, to see the pain and destruction people inflict with their ignorance.

I could not fathom having children or grandchildren and NOT wanting to know, NOT wanting to change the path we are on. I wonder to myself ALL the time - don’t parents feel responsible for their family’s future? I sincerely do not understand. Future generations may be struggling to survive in a violent, war-torn land where little clean water exists…or adequate soil, or pollination to grow crops. It is all a vicious cycle, and the only way anyone can break the chain is to STOP BEING A PART OF IT. Not by a little, not here and there, but in EVERY WAY one has control over.

There is cruelty is nature, yes. But there is less often rape, murder out of no physical necessity, enslavement or ownership. There is not planetary destruction nor the utter eradication of Earth’s resources. We confine and enslave and dominate and ‘own’ and destroy and pollute…we proclaim we are against cruelty and violence while we support it, we insist that we have a right to clean water while not knowing what dangers lurk in it, and expect that the food we buy is safe, when in fact it isn’t.

Here’s the facts: Animal products are detrimental to your health. Period. There is plenty of protein in plants and beans. Plant-based whole foods is the most optimal diet for the human frame. Killing NEVER equals love or respect. It should equal survival (e.g. unable to avoid, generally for purposes of sheer necessity). It does not equal survival in humans, so any killing is a poor excuse for being unable to quell your taste for flesh, pus, and blood. The water supplies are being heavily polluted and the ocean is on the verge of collapse. A huge portion of our ocean is a plastic soup. Algae blooms grow larger every year and there is mass pollution. We are turning our soil into a toxic mush with fertilizers and sludge, and the run-off is killing the few remaining viable water supplies. The bees are dying in massive numbers. They crop dust us with chemicals. Some plants are registered pesticides. GMO crops are cross-pollinating and changing the DNA of food. All this, yet there is so much more.

We are happily selling off the last remaining items in an “Everything Must Go” sale. Furthermore, we have no need to do any of this but seem to simply enjoy the experience of killing and using and dominating and destroying, which is utterly irrational.

I know most people don’t believe anyone would intentionally harm their family or Earth, but they WILL and they ARE. It is imperative that people check facts, and check them carefully. The reality is there - and it’s kinda awful - but there is nothing like empowering yourself with knowledge and taking back your power.

Humans anger me every day, and I make no apology for my frustration… the horrors and hurt I witness in the name of ‘human’ are abhorrent. The excuses I hear are empty and without depth or true meaning. But I would fight for you (and I do fight for all), I would sacrifice my time and my never-ending energy and enthusiasm to aide you. I would go without to help you, and I would share all I have willingly. I simply refuse to soothe the overblown human ego, and I refuse to shy or look away from the truth. However you define me is up to you, as I have nothing I feel I need to prove to anyone.

You shift the power by caring. You shift society by being an active part of it. Vegans are an active part of it, and I have only rarely met another vegan who was not a caring, involved, knowledgeable, compassionate soul who often humble me with their overall love and kindness, so I make no apology for praising them, and thanking them for generally being the leaders in the movement to bring peace and nonviolence, to bring appreciation for our Earth and all others (both human and non), standing steadfast with love for all beings, and to ending discrimination in all forms.

I LOVE being vegan! Positive vegan love to all!