A VERY VEGAN YEAR :)

Another year ending, a new one soon to begin.
So many signs that the world is changing!

More people aware animal slavery a disgrace.
Many investors buying in to all things plant-based.

They can see all the sales, the shift in the spending.
All search reports “vegan” a top in the trending!

Vegan food everywhere taking the prize.
And the word “vegan” on packages steadily growing in size!

Many now stocking cruelty-free kitchens.
And vegan athletics crushing competitions!

New vegan products crowding out vile abuse on store shelves.
When we take care of others we also take care of ourselves!

People worldwide are answering the call;
to discard their dissonance and apply their morals to all.

Every vegan helping make positive stride;
Thank you SO MUCH for letting your ethics decide.

Vegans - please be happy, don’t let the world get you down;
you are part of the future so turn your frown right around!

You are making a difference, there is no debate,
Don’t feel down on yourself when there are some filled with hate.

If you ever feel sad, or your spirit is tiring,
I want you to know – I find all of you inspiring!

And as ‘vegan’ explodes every way that I turn;
I am more grateful each day for all that I’ve learned.

People are seeing ‘vegan’ for all that it is;
Both fulfilling and ethical, a great way to live!

I am excited for what 2018 brings our way…
If you are not vegan please go vegan TODAY.

And to those who are vegan - I hold you all dear.
I wish everyone ALL THE BEST and a most HAPPY NEW YEAR!

~ POEM BY KARYN SWANEY
©Karyn Swaney

My Divorce (which is thankfully not happening)

I’ve thought about this many times. Putting this on paper could potentially offend some people though I am speaking only about myself…

I remember when I went vegan (in a matter of minutes, literally), and as I have detailed in a previous story, I think my husband initially thought I had lost my mind entirely.

Right from the get-go he was completely supportive, and not knowing better I even entertained the idea of “humane meat” for him – as I’m thinking eating a beloved cow who died of old age wasn’t such a bad thing, right? (shows how little I knew or understood back then).

We had a wedding to attend 2 days after my sudden veganism…and we had already chosen the ‘Prime Rib’ dinner. I wouldn’t touch anything on the plate. Everything was covered in some suffering animal goo or was a carcass. Everyone at the table surely thought me incredibly rude; and being a new vegan I barely knew what to say.

Hubby didn’t quite seem to know what to do at first. I quietly told him I wouldn’t be mad at him if he ate the food. I did understand I had sprung this on him and he was doing some thinking of his own. But ultimately he did not eat the poor animal’s carcass either. In fact, with no pressure from me (I was too new to even understand how to properly put my feelings to words) – he almost immediately chose to be vegan and we learned how to live vegan together.

I never wanted him to choose to be vegan because I was vegan, though of course I wanted him to be vegan! I wanted him to be vegan because I believed in who he is, the kind of person he is. And he did not let me down. I consider our vegan change to be basically the same date, something that we did together, because his change began just as quickly as mine.

But here’s the part some might find offensive…We’ve been vegan for 10+ years now, and my thinking has changed and evolved, and I hope it will continue to do so as I learn…but I can say with some assurance I would likely (very, very likely) be divorced if my husband had not chosen to be vegan of his own volition. This is a touchy subject as surely some will gasp in horror that I would say that and question if I love him at all, which is silly.

I have thought about this, often when I see a vegan with a nonvegan significant other. I am NOT commenting on anyone’s life or their personal threshold/tolerance, only that I have been faced with considering how I would react were my significant other were not vegan.

I sincerely love my husband very much. We do everything together. He is my best friend in the whole world. And it would kill me in every sense of the word, but I do not believe I could continue to be with him if he weren’t vegan. I know it would wear me down...I would see the cruelty he was capable of. I would see the selfishness of his actions and wonder who he really was…actually, I would not even wonder…I would absolutely know he was not the person I thought he was.

Because it isn’t about labels, it is about the actions we are permitting and perpetuating. The taking of personal responsibility. Of acting like a moral adult. Living in a thoughtful and ethical manner. How could I suppress the inner anger at his deep hypocrisy and ability for ignorance? How could I be expected to dismiss my own feelings and the horrific indecent inexcusable result of nonvegan actions to instead tolerate something so hurtful from someone who claims to love me?

So no, to each their own, but to even think I was married to someone who would hurt anyone else and myself so willingly, so thoughtlessly – a person so selfish and ignorant - I would surely have fallen out of love over time because it would have turned out that he wasn’t the person I thought he was anyway.

I wake up grateful every day for so much. And one thing I am incredibly grateful for is a husband is turned out to be EXACTLY who I thought he was, EXACTLY the man I married, EXACTLY the type of person I would spend the rest of my days with. I am not ‘lucky’ in general but in some ways I think am the luckiest person in the world!

Pinkwashing

A mother buys a ‘pink ribbon’ item such as dairy products or buckets of chicken. Her children ask what the ‘pink ribbons’ mean. She happily explains and feels pride in her support of helping ‘cure’ suffering. She does not know that the product she bought is directly correlated with actually causing cancer and many other diseases. She does not know that in the ‘race for the cure’ many of these orgs suppress info and misdirect finances to continue to profit from illness.

The same mother…her children instead ask where the chicken came from, or how they got the milk to make *dairy*. Does she feel the same pride describing their abuse and slaughter? Does she herself even understand what happens to dairy cows? Chickens? Other animals? The senseless depravity inflicted upon fellow females? Does she show them the truth? Bring them to a slaughterhouse as she would to pick apples?

If we feel shame or avoid understanding the origin of something we buy, it should be a huge red flag that maybe we should not buy or support it. Conversely, when we choose to support blatant lies, misinformation and violence, based solely upon our own willful ignorance, we make a choice to only soothe our own egos and does not actually help anybody except greedy corporations who don’t give a shit about you or your family.

* * * * * * * *

“Promise me you’ll never wear a pink ribbon in my name or drop a dollar into a bucket that goes to breast cancer ‘awareness’ for ‘early detection for a cure,’ the mantra of fund-raising juggernaut Susan G. Komen, which has propagated a distorted message about breast cancer and how to ‘cure’ it."

~ former Los Angeles Times staff writer, Laurie Becklund

http://realfarmacy.com/la-times-writer-breast-cancer/

http://graceless.me/not-for-sale-a-case-against-pinktober/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QPZfcYTUaA

DO something

Throughout history we have seen social movements and how the ideas or courage of an initial few slowly grow to becoming societal *norms*.

I think every person *thinks* they would have done something at these critical moments in history, but that is simply not the case. Historically we know that a huge majority of those NOT being persecuted tend to look away; some even willingly participate in the persecution, support perpetuating the oppression, and most resist personal change.

So, the reality is, most people would do nothing, at least initially. They would wait until the movement gained mass and strength from a few early pioneers who fought their asses off until they gained momentum and support.

It doesn’t matter what the issue is. Wrong is wrong, and when recognized it is dire we speak out against it, no matter how few of the flocking majority are able to understand the obvious truth that is often right in front of their face. Never be afraid to give serious thought to new ideas. Never be intimidated to do what is right. Never let a brainwashed *trained* societal mindset stop you from acting in accordance with your values.

Right is right. Wrong is obvious. Some people just need hindsight to *see* it and some people recognize it faster.
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“…if you think you would have done something *then*, but are doing nothing *now*, then you wouldn't have done anything *then*, either. So think about what side of history you want to be on, because now's the time for doing something.”
[~ Quote by Bri Traquair]

Waking Up to Who We Really Are

Guy with his 12 year old granddaughter. They are going to the zoo today; they go regularly. Without going in to details, I am in a situation of being restricted on offering personal feelings or opinions…
So (and I absolutely swear I am not exaggerating one bit) this little girl says that a few years ago the zoo had an elephant who “wouldn’t eat.”
They went back a few months later and she remembered to ask about the elephant…she was told they had to “put him down” because he got so sick.
So they have another elephant. She says “I rode on the elephant, I sat in the front and I tried to pet him but I couldn’t reach from the seat.” She goes on to tell me this elephant was “fine” and “not sick at all” but they went back once again a few months later and that elephant had died too.
She is very interested in the animals, she shows me she has pictures of a pig with her babies on her phone.
She is sad about the elephant and states “she wasn’t very old either…?”
I stand there almost sick. I feel like that was me. We didn’t have phones of course when I was growing up, but I have always felt protective and loving towards animals. I am sad for her. I say something like, “Yes, I know they do not do very well in captivity”…
I wish someone had *saved* me back then…
There is a local sanctuary for farm animals – ironically in the same town as said zoo. I vaguely say “I have never been there [that zoo], but I have been to the farm sanctuary that is in the same town.”
He asks me about it.
She loves animals and he is interested. I give him the name.
I hope someday she understands who she is inside and rejects the societal conditioning that deadens our hearts to causing these wonderful animals to suffer so much for our claims of “love” for them.

All Nonvegan Choices Cause Suffering

Dog fighters, trophy hunters, those who eat dogs and cats, people who wear fur, people who run puppy mills, slaughterhouse workers, etc., these actions are all the same as the nonvegans actions most of us encounter every day…the reasoning and results are not different. In all of these actions fellow sentient beings suffer greatly and usually die a horrible death for self-serving *pleasure* when we could easily choose otherwise.

The only people who recognize sentience in entirety are vegans, otherwise people are selectively choosing which individuals they *recognize* (love/protect) and which ones are *unworthy* (kill, abuse, harm, exploit, enslave). When looked at objectively this is clearly discrimination based on irrelevant criteria and societal conditioning.

Speciesism is a form of discrimination. For people to believe there is any difference in the mass barbaric slaughter of billions (yes, billions) of animals just because they are (or aren’t) a dog or a cat is absolutely asinine. We send people to jail for doing to dogs and cats what is routine and legal and completely dismissed (and paid for) by the public on *farms* every day. Only because people have been told by good advertising (which they choose to continue to believe rather than consider actual facts) that a cow’s pain and suffering does not matter. Or a chicken. Pig. Some places even a dog. Cat. Whale. Etc.

What is being done to our fellow earthlings is completely unacceptable and immoral, and somewhere inside we all know it. The decent among us, anyways. This is why few can actually watch what they are willing to pay for…which one would think would be a giant *red flag* that we actually do not consider these acts moral. But they simply keep it out of their sight. The intense suffering they inflict without thought…the weak write-off to “everyone does it.” A denial of all that is rational. Things we easily knew as children become unrecognizable as adults. Further indoctrinating children to practices they would be psychologically harmed to witness; that will likely negatively affect their health; that will harm the planet they live on, the air they breathe, the water they drink…all based only on long-standing myths that are generally accepted as true but are simply NOT true.

Nonvegans actions not only fund/support appalling depravity, but often they are also avid defenders and rationalizers. They turn their backs on their own participation but are quick to point fingers at one who kills a lion or a gorilla, abuses a dog, wears a fur coat, etc. Selective speciesism. A failure to recognize one’s own participation and bias.

It is ALL unnecessary cruelty and the infliction of avoidable suffering. To understand I am *right* all I have to do is glance over at my dog. I wouldn’t hurt her for all the money in the world. To harm her, to stab her to eat her/use her/exploit her would not be rational to me, nor within my moral framework. But somehow nonvegans think another’s sentience is different? Pick and choose who we inflict pain upon today? Whose life doesn’t matter? Donate to a shelter but pay to abuse a pig? How to do you speak rationally to things so preposterous? How do you explain to those who insist on normalized lies that the human body gets virtually no benefit from eating animals and are more likely to make them sick? Facts are lost in the visceral defense mechanism employed by many of those affected [cognitive dissonance] and the conversation frequently turns to cavemen or deserted island scenarios (e.g. pure silliness). How do you reason with blind entrenchment?

I guess you really do have to *wake up* for yourself, but jeez, once you can *see* clearly it is hard to even fathom how damn ridiculous and ignorant I once was. I didn’t think I was cruel to others or exploited them. I actually thought my body required animal proteins to live. I didn’t think I was a violent animal abuser – I thought I loved animals! And I guess I must have believed in *humane slaughter* at one time because I certainly never questioned it. I had fully accepted the lies too. But when someone finally told me the truth? When someone was KIND enough to me to tell me what I was doing? The shock of reality after doing some basic research? As awful as it was to *find out* the truth of what I had been supporting, it allowed me to truly choose the kind of ethical, decent human I want to be and I am forever grateful for that.

I was not an ethical person when participating in such things. Period. No excuses. It isn’t possible because what I know to be true is absolutely terrible and unethical to support in any way, shape, or form. Ignorance is no longer a valid excuse in our information age. There is simply no excuse to behave so badly and I do not try to justify my previous adherence to societal groupthink and lack of thinking for myself. While veganism is NOT about me, I am thankful every single moment of every single day that veganism has allowed me to be a better person, to live the life I would have ALWAYS chosen if the truth hadn’t been hidden from me.

I glance over at my beloved dog as I type…and I know without a fraction of doubt what is *good* and *right* and *just*. I am her guardian, her protector, but she does not belong to me. Her life is her own and there will never be another like her. Every sentient being is an irreplaceable individual with a life and personality exclusive to them, and their suffering is just as significant. I am unequivocally certain that veganism is the moral baseline for how we should treat the other equally sentient beings we share this planet with.

Nonvegan choices are all equal in the choice to harm someone. If you are not vegan please go vegan today.

When One Truly Lives

To me, not caring about anything is not *living*. Most people care about a lot of stuff. I don’t disbelieve people care, but I struggle with the contradiction between what they say and what they do. When you open your eyes and understand the facts, to look around you and think every single person hasn’t already changed immediately in the face of such monumental negative results of their daily actions is truly mind-blowing.

I talk all the time with intelligent people. Social, nice, intelligence people. They are destroying animals, our environment, and potentially their own health and the health of their families. They are not dumb people. They just don’t want to understand. But if one cares about anything or anyone how do they not seek to protect it? To maintain it?

While the world is changing, a huge majority of people continue to be on the *side* of this immoral, cruel, wasteful, polluting, destroying, killing, violent, globally devastating industry by giving them their money and support, which is then used to significantly harm all species on a global scale.

Why do people support such terrible things? Because of good advertising, lobbyist lies, traditions invented by corporations to sell cruelty, suffering, and death for profit. Almost everyone pays their money to destroy everything on Earth, including potentially their own health and their families’ health.

VEGAN
It is truly a matter of life and death.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/vegan-lifestyle-save-lives-2050_us_56fe75fde4b0a06d58056f03

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/08/opinions/go-vegan-save-the-planet-wang/index.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2017/01/23/nine-things-you-can-do-about-climate-change/#1fab3493680c

http://www.newsweek.com/james-cameron-halting-climate-change-simple-change-diets-402447

https://collegian.com/2016/10/stettner-meat-consumption-is-selfish-and-damaging-to-the-environment/

http://www.mrt.com/news/health/article/Plant-based-diet-is-solution-to-ending-7414519.php

http://yournewswire.com/arnold-schwarzenegger-ive-given-up-meat-for-the-benefit-of-humanity/

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/would-eating-less-meat-really-combat-climate-change-a6753466.html

Escaping the Cult of Carnism

Most of us have seen or heard of people *escaping* from cults. They are often shocked at how deeply they were indoctrinated and amazed at *reality*. We never doubt they know they were misled and brainwashed. We also know that those who *got out* have infrequently been able to convince others to leave.

While deeply entrenched in traditions or conformity people often lack the ability to analyze their behavior objectively. Especially when a large number of their peers exhibit the same groupthink model.

So, when a vegan (who was previously nonvegan for many years) says they feel like they *escaped* and they were *brainwashed* (and there are literally millions of vegans who use these words), who do you think is more aligned with reality? The one still supporting irrational blind-follower behaviors, or the one who *escaped* and can now see both sides clearly?

I was nonvegan for more than 30 years. I escaped the cult of carnism. I will ALWAYS live vegan, because I am no longer brainwashed.

Seeking *Great* People

I always assume I am *talking* (IRL and even here on FB) to a *great person*. No matter how I know you or have the opportunity to somehow be in your life, I assume you are a wonderful caring outstanding example of humankind!! :)

But my assumptions of *great personhood* are unfortunately put in doubt when factual conversations arise; conversations such as:
“Not living vegan causes others a great deal of suffering.”

I believe a *great person* would think about this statement. A *great person* would not want to cause another terrible suffering when they could avoid it. A *great person* would want to educate themselves to make informed decisions. A truly *great person* who educated themselves would then change in response to new and factual information. Furthermore, a *great person* would not just change - they would want to put an end to such abomination.

That is what a *great person* would do. To do otherwise would be to support suffering, perversion, indecency, enslavement, confinement, abuse, slavery, exploitation, discrimination, and cruelty. No *great person* would support these things.

I assume everyone is a *great person*, at least initially. Then unfortunately I must begin to ponder their true character if they continue to defend acts I can clearly see are immoral.

It isn’t a question of whether being nonvegan is wrong…I KNOW it is wrong. There is too high a price, too many consequences, too much suffering to bear…oh yes, it IS wrong. So it is simply a question of the *great* people among us. *Great* people taking responsibility for their behavior and changing.

If you are not vegan please stop supporting actions you would actually morally disagree with. Think about what you believe truly defines a *great person* …and then behave that way.

Going vegan was easy. When I saw the absolute depravity and suffering that nonvegans support it was clear what kind of person I wanted to be, and being nonvegan is not who I ever want to be again. I LOVE living vegan!

Live vegan or cause tremendous suffering – there is no 3rd option.

If you are not vegan please go vegan today.

Honey?

Someone asking me about honey. They know beekeepers and say they have “very happy bees” so questioning the *use* of honey and why vegans don’t use it. This is a worthy conversation, especially in light of this particular subject. Vegans are aware bees are struggling. We are aware of the critical necessity of bees in our food supply. We could talk all day about colony collapse, the trucking of agricultural bees, industrial honey production, but backyard bees…?

Here’s my take…I see it like I view cats and dogs. We have put these species in a terrible predicament with our ignorance. With bees it is our ignorance of food, chemical additives, and the overall Big Ag system that is killing all of us and the planet we live on. If our motivation is to try and restore balance, to provide shelter and be safe/protected...for example, my husband and I did place a (as yet unoccupied) hive in our backyard if anyone wants shelter. We will not be bothering them if they do. Their honey is not ours and we will not be taking any.

Same as my companion animals. I am providing them safety. I am providing them guardianship. Humans have created a huge problem with our companion animals and having pets in my home is simply a way of protecting and saving as many of them as I possibly can. They are dependent on us and millions are carelessly tossed into a garbage can every year due to human selfishness, ego, and ignorance.

But my companion animals are NOT mine. I do NOT own them. I am their guardian. I am often their rescuer from sure death, but I am NOT their *owner*. I do NOT own them.

If our motivation is self-serving…if we view any sentient creature as being ours to *use* as we see fit, if we seek profits, or personal gain from their lives, if we dictate their lives, if we view them as property - all definitions of exploitation and enslavement. Even a small bee is a unique individual. There will never be another one exactly like that one. That little being lives a life separate from mine, is not mine, and does not belong to me. I prefer to live my life as a guardian and protector over being a violent dominator or self-serving exploiter.

I would not intentionally harm or interfere with another sentient life in any way other than to help them when able. In the world vegans aspire to have, bees would not need our help and we would leave them the hell alone to do their critical work for our Earth.

It’s about exploitation. It’s about slavery. It’s about the humongous human ego and erroneous thinking of superiority. It about simple morals – not *using* others when there are other options. Caring for nature so that these wonderful critters DO NOT NEED our help. It is silly and contradictory to state a desire to help bees if you are not vegan, because one nonvegan lunch further devastates our planet and therefore, continues to devastate the bees.

The more optimal way to approach this issue would be to nourish Earth so they can live. We are not more important than anyone else. If you desire to help the world (including ALL species on it) then you should go vegan immediately. The FACT is, the bees would be doing fine if people were vegan.

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(PHOTO taken in our backyard garden, logo is our garden page. We love bees! We want to care for the planet and all species on it, so we live vegan. Best way to help bees: plant nectar flowers, don’t use pesticides, and go vegan immediately.)
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https://www.facebook.com/GrowGreatGardens/

We are ALL Vegans

I believe [almost] all people are vegan at heart…even if they haven’t woken up yet…I believe almost every single one of us were born of a certain nature (easily evidenced by the behavior of children around the globe). Many people just continue to refuse to understand how their actions are in such conflict with their stated morals.

I truly see everyone as a future vegan. It seems so inevitable, doesn’t it? How could they *know* all the terrible consequences and not be vegan? How can they continue to live with themselves? Most people are not *bad* people and will be required to awaken as information flows more freely and they confront their dual personalities of Jekyll and Hyde.

It is so obvious how it contradicts our morals and our nature. This is similar to how I believe everyone actually does want to end animal *use*. Some just don’t understand yet. They don’t fully grasp or *see* the true underlying principle of nondiscrimination, slavery, oppression, even sentience.

But it doesn’t mean it isn’t there…festering. It doesn’t mean they don’t agree with veganism, even if they don’t know it. It doesn’t mean they don’t agree with ending slavery in all forms. It doesn’t mean they don’t agree with nondiscrimination. They just have yet to align and understand their morals so their behavior and their words are in agreement.

It takes a while, at least it did for me, to see all these opposing views and get comfortable with my own views. I did a lot of reading, which is ALWAYS a good thing to do. Decide your own views, but do it based on intellect, learning, and thinking…not on groupthink, bullies, or indoctrination of any form. THINK FOR YOURSELF.
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If you think exploiting, oppressing, enslaving, or causing suffering to another is wrong you already believe in being vegan.
If you are not vegan please go vegan today.
<3 <3
:) :)

Ex-Vegans ????

I try very hard to let others be. I often do not agree with tactics or posts, and mostly I keep my mouth shut. I am only compelled to speak when I feel a serious disservice is being done to veganism (and thereby, damaging to those who I work to help every day).

I think most vegans agree - it isn’t about us. I will also say it is always important to try and hear the words being said rather than allow our ego to respond first. To achieve understanding. Even in veganism I sometimes observe such defensiveness to learning it is disappointing.

I am quite used to the willful ignorance of carnists, who often get upset, defensive, angry, and/or uncomfortable in the face of new information and simply refuse to think rationally. Admittedly I understand it less from vegans - who I generally presume had an open enough mind at least at some time to *hear* rational thinking instead of just defensively spitting back blather and utterly irrational explanations.

A recent exchange bothered me a little bit, and I wanted to write a little more about it. It wasn't just the comment (that I am about to mention), it was several vegans who were of the same mentality that is well-summed up in the following quote:

Someone used the line, "He became a nutritionist to help people go vegan."

Over the years, I have seen conclusive evidence that at least some of the people who call themselves “ex-vegans” were created by *vegans* who *sold* veganism under false pretenses.

I find that ethically reprehensible. I work in the medical field. I DO NOT talk to patients about "going vegan." I talk to them about plant-based eating as an evidence-based way to relieve medical issues.

People frequently do not stick to *diets* so of course they are “ex-vegan” when they quit their *diet* (or whatever false river these *vegans* are trying to *sell* people up).

They have no idea how much damage they are doing to such a simple ideal of nondiscrimination and nonviolence.

This is not difficult…would anyone advocate for rapists to rape less? Molesters to molest less? Why not? Because if we recognize they hold sentience and moral value then we feel it is a moral imperative to stop it immediately, correct?

That is veganism. IT’S SIMPLE. It is just rational thinking. If one is willing to skew that perspective then I implore them to do more thinking, because their behavior is not suggesting this very basic moral understanding. I have said THOUSANDS of times – what people then do with this character-defining information is ON THEM, but for a *vegan* to compromise *veganism* in any way is simply unconvincing and unlikely to leave a clear and long-lasting impression.

Additionally, if one does not even support their own supposed moral beliefs they continue to suffer from unrecognized cognitive dissonance and is worth some introspection, at the very least.

“Ex-vegan” – like tomorrow I’d suddenly be agreeable to child molestation or the raping of humans…smh…NEVER.

In the light of the true beliefs of veganism there is no such thing as an “ex-vegan,” only someone who may have called themselves vegan under a cloudy misunderstanding of veganism.

We avoid avoidable suffering, slavery, exploitation, oppression, and violence. How anyone could disagree with that in any way, shape, or form is astonishing.

I am vegan for LIFE – why? Because I am VEGAN, duh.☺

"A Beautiful Day"

“It’s a beautiful day”

For the animals on feedlots of mud and disease?
Or the dairy cow grieving her kidnapped babies?

For the millions of birds living in cages or sheds?
Or for those having their feathers ripped out for a pillow or spreads?

For those transported long distances all crammed together,
with no food or water in all forms of weather?

For the snakes, alligators, crocs, killed just to steal skins?
Or the sharks who are brutalized for the soup made of fins?

How about those in the rodeo spurred into aggression?
Or for those who are caged and live under oppression?

For all of the fish, suffocated to death?
And for all those being slaughtered, who struggle for breath?

For those living on concrete, never known sun or grass?
Or those stuck in a bowl, a life encircled in glass?

For those who are heartlessly cooked while alive?
Or those who’ve been clipped and unable to fly?

For the bee who we steal the brew of their toils?
Or the many homeless and killed to make cheap filler oils?

For all those abandoned who are left all alone?
Or those who lived in the forest but were burned out of their home?

For those seen only as profits for the wool that we use?
Or those who’ve been sentenced to a life spent in zoos?

For all the wildlife, being culled and displaced?
For those seen as value only for how fast they raced?

For those trapped, caged, electrocuted, so we can steal their furs?
Or for those used in cruel testing that does not provide cures?

For all of the slaves forced to perform in silly display?
For who do you think it is a beautiful day?

~ POEM BY KARYN SWANEY
©Karyn Swaney

Please help make it a "beautiful day" for others, too. If you are not vegan please go vegan today.