New Year’s Day 2018
I am sitting on my comfy sofa in my warm home enjoying the silence and solitude as family slumbers peacefully in their beddy-byes! The only other person up and about is my kitty cat, Rosie who nudges me occasionally to let me know that her breakfast time is coming up shortly.
My thoughts turn to all animals, both human and non human, who are being exploited and therefore harmed for the sake of human wants, not needs. Our goal of animal liberation often feels so far out of reach for those of us who do not wield the balance of power and who don’t make the decisions in the boardrooms of the nations and the hallowed halls of governments around the world.
There is, however, one huge difference so many of us can make 3 times a day, 365 days a year and that is to leave the flesh and secretions of other species of animals off our plates.
I have great hope for 2018. I believe a universal understanding that we can thrive as a species without exploiting and harming others for human wants, not needs will emerge and spread its fledgling wings of peace to shelter and protect the most vulnerable of species of animals on this earth we all call home. Positive change is already in the air and the wind as more and more examples of the growing interest in plant based and vegan living come to light.
My heart goes out to animals both farmed and wild, whose flesh and secretions are placed on our dinner places as what passes for food, to animals in medical labs, to animals from whom their skin, fur, feathers are torn to make unnecessary furniture coverings,clothing and accessories, to animals who are used in entertainment and hunted and fished and the list goes on…..
I appreciate beyond words the advocacy of all those continuing to fight for animal liberation. I am thankful for the new and personal friends I have made through my activism; I look forward to standing beside you once again in the coming year. Thank you for your stalwart dedication.
Let us reflect for a moment on the wise words of Henry Benson.
We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.
Annie’s Vegan View
Peace to everyone!
I love you all.
May all beings be happy and free.
Fantastic post. It resonates with me in 2018, that great change is underway.
For all animal activists and vegan advocates we must have hope. It should be our mantra.
Trust me I know how difficult it is and sometimes we beat our heads against the wall in frustration, but always remember the great leaders Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, Cesar Chavez, was it not difficult for them? Was it not challenging every single day? But the question remains, isn’t worth fighting for? The liberation and peace for all beings everywhere today? It is possible, believe it and continue to help make it happen.
Thank you Anne for a resonating post to kick-off what will be a game-changing year!
Thank-you for this optimistic post. Sometimes we can be discouraged when we see so many people all around us taking part in the horrific and unnecessary mistreatment of animals for food, clothing, entertainment, testing, etc….It seems as if nothing will ever change. But you’re right to be optimistic, positive things are happening and it’s right to accentuate this. Looking forward to advocating with you again this year Anne.
Hi Jimmy,
Thank you so much for your positive remarks and your support. It is, without a doubt, worth fighting for. I have learned so much in these last few years and hope to continue, with the help of my friends and fellow advocates, learning how best to advocate for all those being needlessly exploited.
I am very hopeful that his coming year will see great change in our view of our place on this earth as protectors rather than users. I think that we are all capable of great compassion once we understand that the self serving story we have been told about our relationship with and to other species of animals does not have to color how we act moving forward.
Thanks again, Jimmy and take care.
Peace.
Hi Murray,
Thanks for weighing in with your wise words. Hope has the capacity to propel us all forward in times of great need and like you, I choose to remain hopeful, despite the massive and harmful ongoing exploitation.
We shall definitely meet online to advocate and in person, I am sure, in July in Ottawa.
Let us all keep on keeping on.
Take care,
Anne
Hello!
I appreciate your blog posts; I’ve read every one of them for a few years (or more maybe?). Thank you for sharing your views and knowledge in an articulate and thoughtful way.
Hi Christine,
Thank you so much for your kind words and I am so glad that my articles resonate with you. I think that I have just reached four years of working on this website, although it looked much different at the beginning. I still have many articles that need re-formatting and updating.
I have lots of projects in mind for 2018 and I look forward to having feedback from everyone about how we can make this a banner year for veganism and our goal of animal liberation.
Take care.
Anne
I especially love this part from Henry Beston’s quote: “They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”
May 2018 be a better year for all nations on earth.
Thank you for being a positive and continual advocate Anne!
Hey there friend,
Good to hear from you. I think of you often. Yes, I too love this quote. I sincerely hope that better times are ahead. That is kind of you to say. The same to you.
Take care.
Anne