‘TWAS THE NIGHT A VEGAN CAME TO DINNER ON CHRISTMAS

‘TWAS THE NIGHT A VEGAN CAME TO DINNER ON CHRISTMAS
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'Twas Christmas dinner, at the family house,
Many were gathered, including Jimmy’s new spouse.
As the plates went around, she declined several things
Until it got attention, and they began questioning.
“Why aren’t you eating much? Do you not like my food?”
Jim’s spouse, Debra, said “I don’t mean to be rude…
I am a vegan, so it is plant-based I eat.
And I don’t require, special attention or treat
Thank you very much, I have enough on my plate,
And your hospitality I sincerely appreciate.”
Uncle Tim looked over, and in a critical voice,
“Don’t go preaching to me, it’s my personal choice.”
Then Aunt Sue piped up, “How would we feed everyone?
On nothing but lettuce? That could never be done.”
Debra tried to speak, but sister Jen spoke first,
“When I tried to be veggie, I was at my worst
I wasn’t well-nourished, and lost half my hair
I could never be vegan, I don’t even dare!”
Brother Bill then jumped in, Deb again couldn’t speak
“What about lions? Just look at my teeth!
Do you even eat cheese? What about fish?
My gosh, how ‘bout bacon? It is so damn delish!”
All looking around, the family stunned
Why would Jim even marry this one?
Then it continued, each expressing their view:
“If stuck on an island, what in the world would you do?”
“Farmers love their animals, and it has to be done.”
“If we didn’t eat animals we’d be overrun!”
“Man has always eaten animals…since I don’t know when.”
“Don’t plants feel pain? What of cavemen?”
“Don’t you care about humans? What kind of person are you?”
“You also kill animals – the bug under your shoe!”
“What about vitamins? Is your intake sufficient?”
“You’d better make sure, or you’ll be protein-deficient.”
“What about hunters? Do you hate all them too?”
“I only eat humane slaughter - that’s what people should do!”
Then Susie broke in – “I am feeling offended -
I’m quite sure I eat animals because that’s what God intended!”
Debra looked around, they all wanted a rise,
But she knew she was right, and she wasn’t unwise.
“I have no need or desire to make others suffer,
And killing another does not make me stronger or tougher.
I love being vegan, it is sincerely fulfilling,
And there is really no such thing as humane killing.
There is no good excuse, no rational need
To kill other beings and gorge on rotting flesh feed
I live by my morals, and I don’t know about you,
But I don’t harm other beings when I do not have to.”
The guests became quiet, some even saw she was right.
And all went quite well for the rest of the night.
But when it was over, and she was finally home,
She felt so lucky for her life, and for a mind of her own.
~ POEM BY KARYN SWANEY
©KarynSwaney

Please Wake the World

“There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Sadly, I am often reminded that we live in a society where the pursuit of personal gain and pleasure regularly takes precedent above all else. A society where education and facts are often dismissed and even mocked, and those who express new ideas are ignored and frequently ridiculed.

In general terms, we are a society where largely meaningless gestures are offered to convince us that we are ‘good’ and ‘decent’ and ‘kind’ people. A society where convenience outweighs ethics, where the mighty dollar sign has prevailed over common sense - and even over humanity itself.

Most people don’t know that they aren’t always behaving as very ‘good’ people, as they are intentionally misled and they do not invest any effort to think or know any differently. In fact, people overwhelmingly seem to *like* being misled/lied to so their *perceived* life conveniences can be maintained.

I take great interest in the life around me. I have desire to know as much about issues as I can. I fail to understand being any other way. I can understand how we could disagree on many political views, I could see how we could disagree about what clothes we like, or what colors are our favorite - but seriously - not helping others when we have the ability to do so? Not alleviating suffering because we are so self-important that others simply do not matter? Seriously? Perpetuating the starvation and impoverishment of others? Draining and polluting our resources? Ignoring those who seek only a safe place to sleep, who beg you to help them protect their beloved family? Abusing animals and other humans? How could we POSSIBLY disagree on these things?

People go on with their meaningless traditions and thoughtless bullshit, day in and day out, generally believing all is well - changing their profile picture here and there, maybe sending a donation, or dump some water on their head…

I say again – SERIOUSLY? The aforementioned issues are NOT up for dispute. Not in my world they aren’t. Most people know the difference between right and wrong as well as I do.

As far as the refugees currently trying desperately to get to safety - I see these posts from people saying “There are kids starving in the United States, too, so we shouldn’t help any people until we can feed our own.”

LISTEN – we should be able to feed every man, woman, and child in the entire world for a lot less space and a lot less ecological destruction, but it is OUR CHOICE to not do so. It is OUR CHOICE to be ignorant. It is OUR CHOICE that there is so much violence. It is OUR CHOICE that we cannot address and resolve such simple and utterly scientific ideas such as skin pigments and imaginary lines. Everything that *is*, we have chosen or allowed. Furthermore, it is all a bullshit smoke screen to keep the majority of people contributing to the very *machine* they proclaim to dislike; to keep them singing a self-soothing lullaby while they willingly participate in some of the worst atrocities ever seen inflicted on any scale, to both humans, animals, and our entire ecology.

Explaining the complex issues that make every sentence I just said 100% true would take many pages, and the only people who would probably read it are people who already know (but the facts are widely available if anyone wants to check them). Many other potential readers are likely gone by now, back to watching the Kardashians or killing animals or burning the rainforest down or shitting in my water supply or some similar horror.

Fear plays to everything I am against. Lack of action exemplifies everything I never want to be. The shunning of education and knowledge is detestable, and the dismissal – of any suffering being – that we have the ability to help is ethically wrong and is the total opposite of my life values – and I am so very thankful for that. I find it appalling that many people (not all people, of course) generally do not express too much concern for the poor until they can prop them up for whatever discriminatory and frightened view they want to adopt that befits their often prejudicial and oppressive opinion.

Though I well recognize my limitations, and I live an extremely good life, in some senses I am also sad that we have not done better, that people who are otherwise intelligent have accepted thoughtless, skewed bias and propaganda on so many issues, and behave as violent self-serving barbarians almost every day. We could have done better, and we still can…but we have to want it, not this superficial words-not-actions, I-am-afraid-of-you, who-needs-education-when-I-have-a-bullshit-opinion, and its-okay-to-hurt-others-as-long-as-I-have-mine place I seem to reside.

I think the human race has tremendous potential to live symbiotically with both each other and Earth, but the pursuit of profit and the lack of taking personal responsibility has done its best to thus far ensure - and continue to ensure - that we will fail at *everything* – at maintaining our world, our physical evolution/health, our empathy, our environment…and at our very humanity.

Stop the fear. Stop this madness. Wake the fuck up! Seek education. Being ‘good’ actually requires a small amount of effort to determine whose side you are actually on, as society today is most often on the side of the oppressor, or are blind supporters of absolute horrific violence and destruction.

I am embarrassed by our entire species. I am sorry to all past, present, and future earthlings that we will harm with our egotistical violence, our ongoing failure to understand what discrimination actually is, our utter disregard and disrespect of facts, and our blind quest for personal convenience, money, and power...I am sorry that we have failed so badly at empathy, kindness, and compassion for others, and I am sorry that most of them will not understand their unfathomably narrow field of vision unless it is them screaming desperately for someone to help them.

So I was Thinking About This Post...

Hmmm…I was thinking about this post today…SO many people share it, wondering if anyone else feels the irony of it…

There are good, decent, kind people who I want to believe in more than anything, but I cannot, because, though they may be nice to me, they are not “nice to the waiter” (or, in this case, other suffering animals and humans).

Nonvegans contribute to animal abuse of the most horrific degree, they effectively take food from the starving, they create sickness and illness in fellow humans, and they also take away their cures. They burn down our rainforests, and they shit in our water supply. They drive extinction, violence, slavery, and exploitation, all for some passing trivial desires. They seem to lack the ability to even consider the “waiter” as a thinking, feeling, fellow being.

If they are not nice to the other fellow sentient earthlings, then what does that say about the kind of person they are?

Vegan at Heart

No moral human believes in causing the suffering of the innocent, destroying our ecosystems, causing illness in others, in promoting global collapse, or taking the last bit of food from fellow earthlings who are hungry. No one thinks it is ethical to withhold information so people will be sick and die prematurely from both preventable and once-treatable diseases. No decent human believes it is moral to not treat the sick, or to profit from their misfortune. No decent human believes their rivers, food, land, and water supply should be full of shit and utterly contaminated. No one thinks it is OK to hurt an animal unnecessarily. No person with any amount of empathy, love, or compassion can watch an animal suffer and not be disturbed. Most of us think people who kill animals just ‘for the fun of it’ or sheer pleasure have psychiatric issues.

But decent people use their hard-earned money to fund almost every single issue they will say aloud they are against. Mindlessly, programmed to not think for themselves, they hand over their support to unethical, wasteful, polluting, cruel, inhumane, manipulative liars. People will feel good doing something for charity, but the reality is, in a sense, everything they buy is *charity* is some form or another, and what you buy you support.

You can’t be angry about war while funding violence. You can’t be upset there are so many poor when you take their food. You can’t be against abusing or assaulting children or animals while you fund their exploitation, torture, and death. Most people just don’t realize how their actions are harming all of us, while doing great harm to their personal integrity.

Most are not bad people, they have been conditioned to shut that part of their brain down, which is exactly the part that makes *them* fear you. They are afraid you will start thinking for yourself. That you will recognize that even the small things make you complicit in a system that is rigged, harmful to all species on Earth, and plainly immoral. They fear you will wake to the fact that we were fooled. Fooled into believing this mad world of promoting the most horrific of inhumanity and the worst global catastrophes we could possible muster for their profit and to keep you a slave.

We are selling out our values every day, and we don’t realize it. We are selling out every one and every thing we care about. If you looked, if you knew, if you understood, you’d be vegan. The entire world would be vegan. Veganism is what we all believe in when it comes to our morals, when you can clear the confusion and get straight to the real message.

The person I was for the first 35 years of my life didn’t know better. I didn’t understand I was committing such crimes against my own ethics. My morals were clear, but my thought processes and dissonance hadn’t caught up with me yet. I live grateful that I saw through the lies and took a stand for who I REALLY am.

For you to be *against* veganism makes you *for* death, hate, disease, discrimination, suffering, assault, violence, destruction, pollution, depletion, and immorality. Are you REALLY *for* those things?

I speak only the truth, and I do not embellish or distort. All moral humans have vegan ethics. Humans must start taking responsibility for what they say they believe, for what they say they want for the world, and for who they think they are versus how they behave. It is within our hands. All they have to do is allow themselves to *see*. They don’t have to listen to me – the evidence is all around them, all they have to do is open their eyes and heart wide enough to reawaken the wonderful people they were born to be.

ALL decent humans are vegan at heart.

Dear Nonvegans

Dear Nonvegans Everywhere,

Hello. I have been a vegan for about 10 years now. Before becoming vegan I LOVED to eat meat, cheese, dairy, etc. Then I saw something awful…something that made me think, for the very first time, about the choices I was making every day.

I grew up with companion animals. I loved the wild birds and array of wildlife that would pass through our yard. I loved the woods, and nature. I went along for more than 30 years “loving” other earthlings and believing I was “kind” to them.

It hurt to realize I had been wrong for so long. When it finally dawned on me, I was sure that you would want to know, too. I could not have imagined back then that people would NOT want to know, that they would rather continue on being inhumane to other earthlings and ecologically destructive. I have learned a lot since then! I have realized that many are not ready to *see* yet.

But I will always believe in the overall goodness of people, so I will continue trying to reach you…trying to find others like me, who merely need to be *told*. I am forever grateful for being *told*, and if I help even one other person to *find themselves* then that is a wonderful thing.

Are you like me? Do you care about other earthlings but never thought about how much you are hurting them? Do you care about nature and our ecology but never realized you were such a toxic burden to the world?

If so, I can tell you some things that are very important to know…

1. Going vegan it is not as hard as it seems BEFORE you go vegan! It seemed overwhelming and I had no idea how to even begin, but I was determined…THEN I found out it actually wasn’t that hard at all!!! Your supermarket is likely FULL of vegan products, you were just never looking for them before. We can help you, you can still eat cakes and cookies and brownies if you want to, I promise!!!

2. Some people will NOT support you. You may even be mocked or avoided. In the great words of Morpheus, “some are not ready to be unplugged.” Some of the people you feel sure will care or support you may disappoint you. Some may even call you “extreme”. I remind you to always remember that you are NOT the one who is still covered in the suffering and blood of other sentient, vulnerable earthlings while spreading toxicity into both the ecology and your body.

3. You will get more confident. You will grow. Your brain will feel clear. You will help the world. You will help animals. You are amazing, and the fact that you care is commendable. Never let anyone tell you differently. You are already strong, and you will only grow stronger.

4. We are here to support you. We are MANY, and we will help in any way we can. Vegan numbers rise every day as people such as yourself awaken to the truth. Showing concern for others and not wanting to cause their tremendous suffering is NOT a weird way to think or feel!

5. Being vegan is the BEST THING EVER! It is a wonderful way to live, a wonderful way to think. In the words of most vegans, “I only wish I had gone vegan sooner.”

Happily Living Vegan Forever.

How is Love a Negative Thing?

There are *some* who seem to think that vegans are suffering, sad, negative, or upset in some way because we do not dress up or accessorize with the dead corpses of others while we gorge ourselves on rotting flesh, and/or because we point out the moral inconsistency of others while bonding with other amazing people to stand strong for one of the most inclusive and important social justice movements of our time.

Yes, we do know sad things. Yes, we do get down at times. But speaking for myself, overall I live an incredibly happy life and would NEVER trade intellect and morality for false happiness. The bubble most live in is false - a world created by immoral corporations, false advertising/propaganda, and corrupt media - therefore their own perceived happiness is mostly an illusion. For myself I found real and incredibly profound happiness when I began to truly understand the world I was living in and made informed choices that supported my true morals and principles…choices that were easy to make once one is basing their beliefs and actions on reality, education, love, justice, rational thought, and intellect. I definitely thought I was happy before I went vegan, but after I went vegan I found that happiness not only multiplied tremendously, but life also took on a whole new level of gratitude, joy, inner confidence, and appreciation.

When we understand that our daily choices determine whether we truly show compassion and concern for others, and even for oneself, we find such depth, we reconnect with our soul…words fail to convey how wonderful I feel since becoming vegan. I have not regretted my amazing, wonderful, life-affirming changes, not for one single moment.

If others would awaken to their own dissonance issues that cause them to be unable to rationally analyze vegan ethics (e.g. THINK), they might find out how to confront *their* own feelings of negativity and unhappiness when finding themselves unable to *deal* with them.

Being vegan is wonderful!
THINK
VEGAN

“The ignorance the people live in leads them to commit mistakes against their own happiness.”
Simón Bolívar

Nonveganism is Indefensible

HURTING HUMANS
- Global famine - - Antibiotic resistance - - Land, water, and air pollution that further makes people ill - - Aggressive and deadly antibiotic-resistance organisms like E. Coli O157H7, and new diseases such as Swine flu - - The intake of all kinds of chemicals, hormones, microorganisms - - Generally unhealthy for people to eat and ever-rising disease rates - - The contamination of healthy and Earth-friendly food with animal farm run-off (such as the spinach recall)

EARTH:
- Land, air, and water pollution, organisms in our water such as Pfisteria - - Dead zones in our waterways (unlivable areas deprived of all oxygen) - - Deforestation - - Loss of biodiversity (such as wolf culling to protect farm animals, etc.) - - A HUGE waste of water and resources all while contaminating our soil - - Climate change

ANIMALS
- Animals abused and exploited in so many ways. Other sentient beings who humans often compare to children, but then treat the *children* like abusive, psychotic pedophilic serial killers would. They willingly partake in the practice of extreme, horrific cruelty to other docile, sentient beings, who often lived a life of confinement filled with fear and/or pain, who love their babies and desire to live just as we do. All when we have absolutely no dietary need for these products - no good reasons at all to eat or exploit them! Additionally, the impact on nature and wildlife from raising animals for food is immeasurable. In the combination of killing wild animals to protect farm animals, continually decreasing their range, the contamination and polluting the wild areas they live in, then causing imbalances in nature and killing more with the excuse of “overpopulation”, we lose BILLIONS of animals every single year…BILLIONS of them.

Every charity run, every donation, every item recycled does NOTHING to help others or our Earth more than being vegan. There is NO other single life choice that helps other earthlings more than being vegan. If you are willing to ignorantly hurt so many others for selfish unexamined choices then you are acting immorally. If you are willing to hurt so many others knowingly for your selfish desires you are acting immorally. If you are informed, and you care about other beings, and about the Earth itself, then you are a vegan. Those are really the only 3 options when one understands the scope of the issues before us. All it takes is a little education to help billions of other beings in the world.

Once Upon A Time...

I once ate meat, cheese, drank milk, practically lived off hamburgers. Then I spent 5 minutes using my brain and thinking for myself. I amazingly realized I had no desire to harm anyone, and I realized I wasn't willing to kill anyone. I never knew there was any other choice, because I was just like everybody else. I was shocked by the realization, and admittedly scared to change. But how could I not? Seeing the truth of our extreme cruelty, our global devastation, and our own health? Hubby and I discussed it, researched it, and knew there was only one thing we could do in the face of truth and reality and we both went vegan. 10 years ago now. We can't believe we ever suckled the breast milk of another or ate rotting flesh or bodily secretions. Boy, your head sure clears!!! We would NEVER go back, and find it hard to believe any human with a heart, the ability to think for themselves, and a desire to be informed could possibly choose differently. All the defensive people are simply deeply indoctrinated and unlikely to be able to think objectively about the very factual and intelligent choices that vegans have made - to do their best to not participate in a system that is morally reprehensible. Vegans rising quickly in numbers, as people begin to think for themselves. I love that we live our lives doing the best we can for to cause as little suffering to vulnerable and innocent earthlings possible. Reformed meat-lovers here - 100% vegan and happier than EVER now.

Mommas Love Their Babies

We have these common brown spiders everywhere in our flower gardens. I try to be careful when digging and changing things, always doing the least harm possible to others. These spiders have these white egg sacs that they carry with them when they run from me to try to find another shelter. (I generally do things is sections, and yes, I do shoo any critters I find towards the ‘safe’ areas.)

Occasionally the spider and egg sac get separated while moving rocks or digging soil. Many times I have seen that little spider turn around to bravely face off with me to find her babies.

In one such search – I spied the tiny sac and gently gave it to her. She dismissed my attempt and continued searching.

Confused - but only for a second - there was another little brown spider a few inches away, also searching. I gave the sac to her and she accepted. I helped find the other egg sac and shooed them both to the ‘safe’ area before continuing on.

They know who their babies are. They defend their babies. They love their babies. Their lives matter – both to themselves and to me.

Which Do You Choose?

WHICH VILLAGE DO YOU CHOOSE?

There are two villages.

In one village they raise animals for food and it is best you do not grow to love them. You will become desensitized to killing them within a short time and learn to deaden your senses to their individuality and sentience. The water, land, and air is polluted with unmanageable fecal runoff. The trees are gone – they have been cleared to make more cropland…because you need to grow a huge amount of plants to feed the animals, which in turn give back only a small amount of edible food. Thus some of the villagers are starving to death. Many also lack access to water - the shrinking amount of polluted water you have needs to be given to the farm animals and massive ‘animal feed’ crops.

In the other village you coexist with all the other earthlings. No one tries to do intentional harm to any other being in the village. Loving and supporting other earthlings is encouraged and violence is not condoned. You have small patches of gardens throughout the village that complement surrounding nature, and you produce a surplus of food for all of the residents. No one goes hungry. The water is clean and so is the air. People care about each other and look out for each other.

Which one would you choose? I know which one I want. For those who do not know facts it may seem I exaggerate. Quite the opposite, I have not mentioned many other negative issues that are a direct result of our irresponsible and irrational life choices. While veganism is not a diet, the full scope of results are undeniable.
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“To me it is deeply moving that the same food choices that give us the best chance to eliminate world hunger are also those that take the least toll on the environment, contribute the most to our long-term health, are the safest, and are also, far and away, the most compassionate towards our fellow creatures.”
~ John Robbins

I'm Awake and Feeling Great :)

Many times vegans have expressed delight and appreciation for their conscious evolution in becoming vegan, but there is always the inadequacy of words…the inability to fully express the feeling and connection.

Most of us have had the pleasure of watching a ‘feel-good’ video…maybe it was a firefighter rescuing a cat; maybe it was a dog who alerted his family of danger and saved their lives; maybe it was that video where people dug for hours to rescue the elephant from the mud pit; or untangle the turtle from the fishing net; or even a human doing a good deed for another human. When we watch the happy ending we breathe a sigh of relief and joy, and we feel emotional and a sense of fulfillment.

I was watching one such video the other day when it dawned on me…that is how I feel. It is how I feel when I wake up, when I work, when I tend my garden, when I go to bed at night. It is there. A feeling of grateful relief and happiness, of meaning and value, of feeling like an active participant in something wonderful and important.

I know some terrible things. I have seen places of nightmares. But I wouldn’t trade one bit of the awareness I carry, because there is that other part - the much stronger part - the wonder and gratitude of every moment that many of us have a hard time adequately putting to words.

I love being vegan, and will happily live vegan for the rest of my life. <3

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“I felt like I was waking up from a long sleepwalk.”
~ James Cameron

More on Irrational Thinking

Honest people don't always have tons of friends, but the ones they do have are REAL ones. However one chooses to perceive the honesty, integrity, ethics, and values I discuss and live every day of my life is merely a reflection of their own personal feelings and issues, of which I have no control. I just keep moving forward and continue to live every single day focusing on the things that make me happiest and the things that truly matter.

There are *some* people who seem to think that clearly I am suffering, sad, negative, or upset in some way because I do not dress up or accessorize with the dead corpses of others while I gorge myself on their rotting flesh and/or because I point out the moral inconsistency of others while bonding with AMAZING people to stand strong for one of the most inclusive and important social justice movements of our time.

Yeah, I’m suffering horribly…my life sucks and all I think about is sad animals and cry into my kale, which is all I've been able to find to eat for 3 weeks or so.

(that could not possibly be more untrue) ;)

If others would awaken to their own dissonance issues causing them to be unable to rationally analyze vegan ethics (e.g. THINK), they might find out how to confront their own negativity when finding themselves unable to *deal* with them.

Unavoidable Compromises

When vegans have to make compromises that are not vegan, it is not about what is 'convenient' for us, as some nonvegans might suggest. It is not about what we 'prefer', or 'desire', or about self-indulgence. Any nonvegan situation or product we are forced to tolerate or use is considered (such as needing to have a car, or riding a bus with leather seats, etc.). We do not act by impulse, ignorance, or by convenience. We simply do our best every day to do the least harm possible.

Why would I harm anyone when I could so easily avoid *most* of it? In our current society – almost totally based on exploitation and violence – most of us are unable to live all-or-nothing (e.g. we must have cars to obtain food, etc.), but we do our best.

If we find out it is not considered vegan, and is avoidable, we avoid it. It is that simple.

I feel lucky and happy for every single day, always doing my personal best to act in a way that is consistent with my ethics. It is a GREAT way to live.

THINK. vegan.

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“People look at me as a vegan and conclude that since I stepped on a snail or because the vegetables I eat resulted in a tractor death for a squirrel somewhere in Paraguay that somehow vegans are hypocrites, which of course they're not since perfection is an unattainable goal and is something to be driven towards, never actually achieved. The difference between you and the vegan standing next to you is that while you're both going to step on a bug tomorrow, they've decided to dedicate their lives to do as little harm as possible, completely independent from what you do. So in no way does the protozoan life form they step on negate your responsibility for the lamb you're paying a stranger to cut tomorrow. And falling 1% short of an unattainable goal is really good when you're standing next to someone who won't even try.”
- Shelley Williams

Straight Across the Board

When stated in the simplest terms available, the routine farm practice of forced insemination - regardless of species - is the sexual assault of another female. This is often done for the purposes of eating her babies and stealing her breast milk.

Yes, violent sexual assaults occur in the 'animal kingdom' (including human animals), but that is a weak excuse at best. Humans have clearly decided we DO NOT morally condone forced sexual assault or the killing of babies. Additionally, as we all know, humans overwhelming make the claim that they *love* animals and believe in protecting them. They also claim to morally disagree with inflicting irrational violence and suffering on other sentient earthlings.

We exist in this oddly twisted world of morals that do not hold true 'across the board'. In short, this is what is meant by dissonance. When you figure out what *morals* you truly stand for and align that principle with your entire life, the dimension in which we view the world changes. I have rarely met a fellow vegan who didn't experience a feeling of “waking up” and a positive change from within that is simply impossible to adequately put into words.

The feeling is alignment. It is awesome. I have decided my ethics and I stand true to them – straight across the board.

So happy to live vegan

Veganic, Please!!!

VEGANIC FARMING
Also known as 'Stock Free'
(FARMING WITHOUT POOP)

Veganic farming is growing in popularity and availability. As the name suggests no animals (or their poop) is used to enrich the soil or harvest the crops....

Dangerous microorganisms frequently are borne of animal contamination (Listeria, Salmonella, Cryptosporidium, E. Coli, etc.). The only source of virulent E.Coli is poop. Some vegans (those lucky enough to have access to the products) are trying to eat poop-free (as we also object to the use of the animals from where the poop is derived).

Veganic farming is about composting and enriching the soil, improving the land, more resourceful and productive uses of land and water, and no dangerous run-off to contaminate our waterways. A recent study found that 23 percent - nearly a quarter - of water samples exceeded state and federal recreational water quality guidelines for fecal bacteria and E. coli. That contamination comes from animal farm run-off and pollutes EVERYTHING.

VIDEO: The Chesapeake Bay
VIDEO: Scenes of the Environmental Damage

ARTICLE: Poop Leaching Into Rivers

ARTICLE: More Contamination

ARTICLE: What About Vegetables?

WFPB for Health, Vegan for Love

WE ALL KNOW:
Animal flesh is not supposed to touch any other foods when raw because it is contaminated. The reason you have to cook it so long is to kill off the potentially deadly bacteria. When baking with children you should not let them lick the bowl if using raw eggs due to the risk of illness.

BUT DID YOU ALSO KNOW:
Plant-based diets meet all human needs and humans thrive on plant-based diets. Germany’s record-breaking strongman is plant-based, and you can find amazing plant-based athletes in every sport, often winning. There are also all kinds of delicious *mock* meats available, and eggs/dairy are also easy to replace.

So what is the benefit of going plant-based?
You avoid having these potentially deadly organisms near your family
You avoid harming animals and contributing to the global issues of animal agriculture
You strengthen your personal health and immune system
You feel good about your meals because they stem from meaningful informed choices
AND, best of all – you can safely lick the bowl!!!!

Go plant-based for health.
Go vegan because you are opposed to violence and exploitation.

The Abbey of St Walburga

Anyone else see the show on NBC the other night about the nuns at The Abbey of St Walburga in Colorado? They have a ranch and are quite successful at selling "beef" based on the consumers assumption of "humane meat" and "irreverence" for the animal's life... (???) I found it quite upsetting, to be honest. I am sending them a letter, although I am well aware that the chance of being *heard* might not be very high (or no chance at all lol).

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The Abbey of St Walburga
Benedictine Way
Livermore, Colorado 80526

With Respect to Those of The Abbey of St Walburga:

Sometimes I am so overcome by pain I simply feel at complete loss as to what to say…how can I adequately express what I need you to hear?

I saw the television segment about your ranch. It made me so very sad. In the hopes you will hear me out, I decided I must write my deep sorrow on paper and share it with you. PLEASE just take a few moments to read my short letter - in hoping to make my point initially I will surely struggle to find the right words - so please read it through.

To see this industry garner the support of what I assume are such lovely, dedicated people at The Abbey of St Walburga - such a terrible industry with such horrible effects - is absolutely heartbreaking to me. I had tears in my eyes and felt such deep sadness seeing that segment.

Our society has long-held beliefs that we have justified in irrational ways. We cause the suffering of other species to the detriment of our Earth and other humans. We know it takes a lot of food, water, and land to raise animals. We invest a lot more resources ‘farming animals’ than we receive back as a benefit, making it a counteractive and detrimental method of producing food for humans. As one of the many consequences of this the ‘animal farming’ industry globally contributes to world famine, all while causing soil depletion, pollution, and loss of biodiversity on a massive scale.

By encouraging and aiding the ongoing consumption of meat and animal milk we also nonverbally support the egregious loss of our rainforests and the displacement of indigenous people everywhere. Many activists have been killed fighting against the very industry you align yourself with. While erroneously believed to be ‘different’ in fact you are complicit. Are you familiar at all with Sister Dorothy Stang? The documentary “They Killed Sister Dorothy” is the beginning of a small peek into a VERY deep rabbit hole of crimes against all humans, animals, and Earth.

We know that even at minimum we must do unnatural things to these vulnerable beings - such as the removal of male calves and/or forced insemination, which is actually sexual assault on another woman when viewed objectively.

Additionally we have no dietary need for animal ‘products’ and they are known to increase rates of human disease – so no matter how ‘cleanly’ raised – you are potentially complicit in harming the health of another, harming our Earth, ignoring the overuse of available resources, and also assaulting a sentient being who inherently values their own life. Why be a willing participant in all these horrible things when instead we could easily choose to support life SUSTAINING and life GIVING habits that are truly about love and compassion for all beings?

There is no need for humans to kill to live. Our humanity, our ecology, our spirituality, and our health aligns with this simple yet utterly moral principle. We can feed more people with plant-based foods, we can have less pollution, we can have healthy bodies and clean ecosystems, and we don’t have to be violent. Not to mention it is a fallacy of logic to state “irreverence” of anything mercilessly killed for no logical purpose or bodily need. To truly respect life would be for The Abbey of St Walburga to become a SANCTUARY, a safe place for all sentient beings – a place of love, nonviolence, and true reverence.

Our falsely-held beliefs allow us to justify a plethora of negative effects, along with system-wide horrific injustice and oppression of thinking, feeling, fellow beings. Beings that are able to clearly communicate the emotions of love, suffering, and pain. Most people who are complicit are not cruel people, most are not indecent intentionally. In a sense we are all victims – of lies, manipulation, and an extreme cognitive dissonance that allows us to believe we are kind and decent while actually being horrifically cruel and violent and being harmful to all we love – and to everything that truly matters.

Perpetrators throughout history have explained their violence and oppression by insisting it was "natural", or they were abiding by God, or that their victims were “different”, or “inferior”, or did not have the sameness in capacity for emotion or thought. Throughout our entire history those have been our [wrong] reasons for the disregard of other sentient lives. I personally do not feel any loving God would support the utterly unnecessary destruction, bloodlust, and negative impacts of animal farming but would instead embrace peace, nonviolence, and avoidance of killing except possibly under dire survival circumstances.

By killing some species and valuing others we are setting nonsensical criterion for who is inferior, deciding whose lives matter less. That is the basis for *all* discrimination, oppression, violence, and judgment of others and is simply wrong.

We can change history. We can have peace. We can have a clean planet. We can have health. We can stand in support of the wonderful, brave people such as Sister Dorothy, and the hundreds of others who have been killed just for speaking up. We can just stop being violent. Right now – we can stop. We can focus on the development of the person most of us were born as – a nonviolent, nonracist, non-judgmental, nondiscriminatory, nonspeciesist, with little (none?) desire to harm or kill anyone.

What I have said here makes total sense and is in alignment with all that is good and just and compassionate in this world. Tradition does not make right, as many abject traditions have been ejected when shown to be erroneous or obsolete.

To see such good people supporting such a deplorable industry breaks my heart, sincerely and truly.

Thank you for listening.

Do unto others…

Sincerely,

Karyn Swaney

Vegan Freaks

Yes… they make people fear us and call us extreme...we are said to be terrorists... because they don't want them to THINK.

They tell them to laugh off our “childish” and “emotional” rantings, for as long as people see vegans as “weird” or “crazy” or “overly emotional” then they won’t feel the need to further consider how they provide fuel for a society of violence and oppression and devastation.

I have no idea why or how it dawned on me, but ironically it is clear as can be, totally and ridiculously simple and oh-so-obvious - oppression and violence is all the same - no matter who we irrationally justify perpetrating it on.

In rearing us to accept the daily violence and oppression we inflict upon others we deaden our senses to the principles of love, compassion, empathy, and justice, and most of us ultimately end up in this twisted state of dissonance, as I once was (though I didn’t know I was at the time).

It is simple. We are perpetrators - and our methods of ‘criminal’ behavior involves system-wide horrific injustice and oppression and criminal abuse of thinking, feeling, fellow beings. Beings who are able to *clearly* communicate with us their desire to NOT be enslaved. Beings that are able to *clearly* communicate the emotions of love, suffering, and pain. Our utter dismissal of their obvious pleas are so abhorrent to anyone *awake* that the only the comparison that could be rightly made is the wrongness of human slavery or genocide.

Most slave owners didn't see it, whole societies have supported horrific crimes, because they couldn’t *see* it. Most are not cruel people, most are not indecent intentionally. In a sense we are all victims – of lies, manipulation, and an extreme dissonance that allows us to believe we are kind and decent while being horrifically cruel and violent.

Just like nonvegans of today, perpetrators throughout history have explained their violence and cruelty by insisting it was 'natural', or they were abiding by God, or that these other beings (their victims) were “different”, or “inferior”, or did not have the sameness in capacity for emotion or thought. Throughout our entire violent history those have been our [wrong] reasons for being indecent to other sentient lives.

Vegans are mocked and told they think themselves *superior* to others when it is clearly the nonvegans setting nonsensical criterion for who is inferior, deciding whose lives matter less. That is the basis for *all* discrimination and oppression.

Being nonvegan is the pinnacle of being a bully, of ‘judging’ others, of ‘thinking you are better’ than another, yet ironically vegans are the ones [wrongfully] accused of these sentiments. But because we speak of a deeply-set societally-accepted injustice the denial and defensive reactions to these self-evident statements is often taken as insulting rather than as the rather simple TRUTH.

We can change history. We can have peace. We can just stop being violent. We can stop suppressing our inherent love and empathy for all Earthlings. We can focus on the development of the person most of us were born as – a nonviolent, nonracist, non-judgmental, nondiscriminatory, nonspeciesist, with little (none?) desire to harm or kill anyone.

Can people please stop pretending that any sentient Earthling does not have feeling? Does not have the capacity for love, fear, pain, loneliness? The ability to suffer? Does not beg us to be spared? Does not treasure their own life? Because we *KNOW* that they do. Yet we continue to insist on age-old policy we have ALWAYS used when seeking to oppress another - when seeking to justify [albeit irrationally] our perpetration of crimes upon them.

When the people wake to the repetitive cycle, when people stop inflicting violence and oppression upon others, when we covet empathy, knowledge, and compassion…we will have finally figured out peace.

While the victims may have changed, the excuses and brainwashing and horror and oppression is the same.

What is “extreme” is not being vegan.

“As long as there are slaughterhouses... there will be battlefields.”
~ Leo Tolstoy

From *Speciesism* the Movie

“Oh my God…I saw it…

I can’t pinpoint the time or moment when I realized there was something to the argument, it was kind of a cumulative process…but there was a tipping point. When you come out on the other side intellectually - I would almost say it’s crippling. 

You’re immediately confronted with a holocaust that is occurring everywhere, at all times, and everybody you know - your loved ones, and people you hate - everywhere - they’re all participating in it.

And yet here I am, I’m just talking about it…I’m kind of somewhat impassionately talking about it, because I am trying to relay my feelings about it - when really the only response to that realization - to waking up to this world we live in - is a fucking explosion, right? That’s the only reasonable response. 

This is something - it’s so bad - how do you possibly talk about a holocaust that’s happening everywhere, all the time, every day, and everybody’s included? How do you talk about that when knowing it’s a laughable subject when you bring it up, when your friends and family, when they think it’s “cute” that you've decided to take an interest in “animals”?

“But, y’know – you've made your choice, please respect my choice.”

How in the hell do you possibly go on in that world? How do you not see the world – and everybody in it - as dark, and dangerous, and irrational? And how in the world do you not see your life - that you've lived up until that point when you've woken up - as inexcusable?

~ Mark Devries, in the movie Speciesism

Guilty

Guilty as charged. I accept my [awesome] sentence.

Guilty of the charge of oversight. Of apathy. Of ignorance. My retribution for this crime and to avoid criminal acts in the future I deem I will be forever vegan. I am feeling so very lucky for this chance at rehabilitation and recovery from being addicted to bad habits and silly traditions that represent conditioning humans to accept violence and discrimination, and actually have little in common with the love and thankfulness and compassion many of us falsely believed we were partaking in.

Vegan For Life

I used to think I didn't want to know, too. Just never thought about it. Have no idea why I finally did think about it. Not that the info wasn't available, I just never *saw* it. When I did I immediately wished I had done so long ago. I would have NEVER been a part of it. I would have NEVER done all the terrible things I did (paying someone to do it *for* me counts as MY responsibility).

As I have often heard said,
"The only thing I regret about going vegan was that I didn't do it sooner."


I actively saved dogs and cats, I rescued and donated and was angered and offended by stories of their abuse, never even realizing I was a horrific violent perpetrator, a victim myself, of ignorance and brainwashing.

Could I live not eating animals? What about protein??? (lol) What was I going to eat? Wear? Overwhelming and seemed so very difficult, the idea. But, I had no choice, I had awoken, and now there was only one way to live decently...

So many years later I chuckle at myself...I was so severely dissonant back then. My words and actions did not match. My choices were harmful and violent and not destructive and quite frankly, selfish. I caused so many terrible things.

I have never been happier, felt more confident, positive, empowered, or aligned since going vegan. I can honestly say that the day my husband and I went vegan was the best day of our lives, since few other choices we have ever made or events we have ever partaken in have had such an overall positive effect on our spiritual and physical well-being and happiness for the rest of our lives...

VEGAN FOR LIFE

I Believe!!!

I believe in you. We have to stop the violence. We have to make people listen. We need clean air and water to live. We have to make others understand how much harm they are doing. How it is their responsibility. We have to find a way to make them want to know the truth so they can help us make a better world. It is imperative that we come to recognize that the people hold ALL the power. That people CAN change the world.

Our daily choices dictate the kind of world we create - somehow we MUST make everyone see that. People can be healthy, we can feed the hungry, we can have a green, healthy planet, we can have peace - we can have it ALL. We HAVE to stop tolerating the intolerable. We have to say “NO MORE” - because when we don’t we allow many to suffer – animals, other humans, and our Earth. We can’t be passive or silent while war is waged on all we cherish.

As we would fight for our home and backyard, our own family, our own beloved companion animals, we must fight for all. To any in peril right now your ability to act and speak on their behalf is of dire emergency. For many there is no more time. We are losing irreplaceable ecosystems as I type…our land, water and air is being polluted, many are sick and dying, forests are burning or being clear-cut, and still we desiccate more and more land, waste more and more water – all while annihilating biodiversity…even though WE DON’T HAVE TO do any of this to live happy, healthy, fulfilled lives.

We DON’T have to be like this! We can live cleanly, gently, harmoniously with our world. But first we must get people to understand that WE are a society failing to shape the world that most of us claim to want; that we are a society who points the finger at others for the ills instead of understanding our own personal culpability and taking responsibility.

I believe in the woods, and the birds, and the trees…I believe in fresh air, clean water, feeding the hungry, taking care of the sick and the poor, and I treasure all the wonderful creatures of Earth. I wish no being any irrational, unnecessary harm and I am happy to use care with my actions to support the positive change I would like to see in the world. I KNOW I do not *own* the life of another. I also KNOW that all I have ever felt compelled to do was ease the pain and suffering of another, not be the cause of it.

I believe in telling the truth, and I believe in education and research before making judgments…I believe in critical thinking, and I believe societal ‘norms’ should always be examined for validity. Mere habit does not provide legitimacy. I believe in good over bad, and right over wrong. I believe in decency and morality. I believe in caring about the vulnerable and oppressed.

Take the power back. Be the change you wish to see.

Intolerant to Violence

I do not tolerate nonveganism well. I admit it 100%. I see no reason to selfishly cause unnecessary suffering, and I am easily agitated in the presence of the 'screaming'. That said, I have some random thoughts.


I was standing at my window this morning watching the birds. Suddenly thinking, “What if someone walked into my yard right now and viciously killed one of the birds?”


Obviously I would completely lose my mind. I would call the police (oh yes I would), and the person would be lucky to get off my property without being seriously harmed. What if it were my dog? My cat? My husband? Most of us would be completely distressed under such circumstances.


True vegans (in the quickest summary possible) believe that every life holds inherent meaning, to the individual whose life it is. Vegans generally avoid harming any being intentionally, as we believe we would not want to be irrationally harmed by another. A ‘do unto others’ kind of thing…nonviolence, nondiscriminatory, equality and justice and peace for all who live. It is more than that but for a summary that will suffice.


Anyways, if that is true - if we truly view lives as we would the lives of our dog, cat, wildlife, even our family – how do we tolerate nonvegans?


Hear me out – I would NEVER go to a gathering of pedophiles, or rapists, or murderers. None of us would. But if we make the connection, how do we then tolerate the presence of nonveganism? The presence of such horror and fear and death? Yet many tolerate it and even soothe nonvegans in an ongoing effort to be ‘nice’.


Some will respond that this is because society is overall blinded by a culture based upon animal use. So I pose this scenario…


You grew up being partially raised by loving well-treated slaves. You loved them as family. In your late teens you realized…you saw the reality of the ‘wrong’. What do you do? I suppose (as with everything), that is dependent on each individual. But knowing what we know about slavery…if you knew…do you continue unfettered to your slavery-run gatherings and events?


I am increasingly intolerant to being around anything nonvegan. I certainly believe in tolerance when no one is being harmed, or even sometimes when one is only harming themselves. I DO NOT believe in tolerance when it involves the harm of other innocent beings, injustice, oppression, and/or violence.


If it rape, abuse, oppression, murder, violence, destruction, etc. - and IT IS – why is it any more tolerable? I am not going to attend the next racist meeting I come across, or defend a serial killer, or try to understand or offer support to a rapist.


While some of this is just random thinking, because I am certainly kind to people overall, please do not expect me to be tolerant to the abuse of fellow Earthlings and the health of our planet, because I DO understand it IS injustice, abuse, cruelty, rape, murder, oppression, discrimination, along with this incredibly annoying human ego trip that I find utterly distasteful and intolerable. We are (thus far) a shameful species.

Willful Ignorance

It is rather easy to formulate an opinion, especially if you never seek rational thought and science to support that opinion. If truly decent people saw the amount of devastation our daily choices inflict on Earth and all other Earthlings, truly decent people would find themselves incapable of further rationalizing such nonsensical harm - they would have to change. So, instead, there exists a refusal to actually look or consider the truth, a failure to want to know facts, a sad state of being - “willful ignorance”.


The willfully ignorant say this is because they are “comfortable” with their choices – “I am OK with it”. How can one be “OK” with something they actually know very little about? Are they saying they CHOOSE to be violent and destructive and oppressive and harmful and apathetic? If the willfully ignorant are really so comfortable with their choices, doesn't that mean they could both look at all the facts, give due consideration to the moral contradictions within themselves, AND continue their current lifestyle unfettered? If the willfully ignorant are so confident in what they believe, no amount of new information should be able to shake that belief system, right?


But clearly that is not the case – a large portion of society overwhelmingly refuse to look at facts or consider these very rational thoughts - of nonviolence, of not harming the innocent when so utterly unnecessary, of the devastating result of our choices on our Earth and ecosystems, or on our health and health care crisis.


They don’t want to take responsibility. I have no comprehension of being that kind of person. I value knowledge, I value science, and I value ongoing self-improvement to always do better and life a deeply meaningful life. I value the connection created by my Earth-friendly, nonviolent lifestyle. I can no longer imagine being any other way.


I certainly have a lot to improve upon, and I will work on the betterment of me until the day I die. I hope to NEVER be completely “comfortable”, because learning and growth often forces change, especially when you refuse to live in denial, when you refuse to be soothed or quieted by the dumbing-down machine, and when you seek truth and justice and education and deeper values.


The willfully ignorant have convinced themselves they have made choices. I am convinced they themselves have been oppressed and lack free thought. Many have yet to realize they are flesh-eating, family- and Earth- destroying corporate slaves who unknowingly defend and support the most unethical and abhorrent for-profit tactics that brings harm to EVERYTHING that should actually MATTER to them.


"Big egos have little ears."
- Robert Schuller