The Point of Beauty.

One of the things I describe myself as is as a 'tree hugger'. I do love trees, anything green with a life of its own. I hardly ever actually hug a tree.

I love sitting on a beach when there are few around so I can load my senses with the smell of the salt water, the feel of a breeze on my face, the sound of the waves, the taste of salt on my lips.

I love sitting in my garden looking at all that green, at the flowers dancing in the wind, at the butterflies and bees slurpimg up nectar, at the birds singing and splashing in the bird bath. The sight and sounds of my dogs running around do not disturb me, they eventually rest at my side.

All that beauty is there to be seen and wondered at. We fight to stop deforestation, to eradicate the polluting of our rivers and seas, we fight for green lungs, we fight for forest reserves so that we and the others of God's creatures may survive and survive to see such beauty.

There is no point to beauty if there is no one to appreciate it.

A Cruel and Dastardly Act

Received some news today that had me in tears. Tears of sorrow, anger and of frustration. My Aunt Janey has received another blow. I last met her at my niece's wedding in July where she took the dance floor by storm with her moves, her energy and her obvious joy. This from a woman in her 70s who lost her only daughter a year before that. Her grief was put aside on that dance floor and she told me how much she had enjoyed herself that day.

Aunt Janey lives a few hundred miles from us. When I was at her house on the day of my cousin's funeral, I recall talking to her about her two companion dogs. Aunt Janey is a widow, her two sons married and living in different states.She told me she walked them twice a day. She makes sure she obtains the city licences for her dogs every year.

Aunt Janey's 15 year old dog died peacefully in her sleep two months ago. She was sad but glad the dog did not suffer.

On Saturday, Aunt Janey went to her gate with her remaining dog Spunk for their morning walk, his licence on his collar. She realised she had forgotten the stuff to clean up after Spunk on their walk, told Spunk to stay and went back in. She came back out shortly to see Spunk running in terror being pursued by dog shooters in a lorry. She next hears a gunshot and knows what has happened. She rushes down her road to at least take the body of her beloved Spunk but they have taken it away. All she sees is his blood.

Aunt Janey took care of Spunk and Spunk took care of Aunt Janey, a perfect "symbiotic' relationship between a human and another of God's creatures. It was ended by a cruel act of cowards.

Use and Abuse.

I can't understand people who demand and demand. Everything is their right. Don't they understand about privilege?They don't say it they shout it as if if they say it loud enough it becomes true."I have the money so I demand the best, I am entitled!" So goes the refrain.

There are those who believe God has given them dominion over the world and everthing in it, including non human animals. For such of those who don't believe in God, it is their 'superiority" that gives them the right. We have the brains, we have the weapons so we have the right. The right to breed a horse with spindly legs so he can race him, the right to shoot him when he falls in a race and breaks one of those legs and arrange for its "carcase" to be dragged off. The right to let animals lose their homes and starve as more land is needed for bigger profits. The right to get a pedigree dog to show off to your friends and discard it like yesterday's newspaper once it is old, its coat is scraggy, no more a thing to be displayed for the admiration of others. The right to eat veal and fois grais because you have the money and you just love the taste, so to hell with the suffering of the animals concerned.

Just wait a minute. God made us stewards of His world. It is a privilege to have the use of it. We are accountable to God. Even if you do not believe in God, you will still be held accountable by the forces that be, by Mother Earth, whatever.

Ours is not a right to use and abuse. We have been given a privilege, use it the right way.

Celebrations and Waste.

Christmas is over as well as the celebrations for the new year. My resolution is that it be a better year for all life, human, animal and plant. I pray for all of God's creation.

With the end of the most commercially important celebrations in the year,I notice again the waste. The waste of expensive Christmas wrapping paper being torn and thrown. For the 2008 Christmas, we placed each family's presents, unwrapped, in a bag. I don't think it made any difference to the recepients. I have to talk about the waste of food. People tend to load their plates especially at fetivals, and much is left uneaten and thrown away. IF I collected all the thrown out food at Christmas, I would probaably be able to feed all the strays in the country for a day, includiny the animals at shelters. The food if referigated may stretch for days. Think of the food thrown out by hotels.

Then there are the presents. Do most people really think about what the recepients would appreciate and be able to use? It is not the cost that matters. A box of tissues does not cost much and would always be used. It may not be appreciated as a present of cost but I am just trying to make a point.

You may know by now that I am a vegetarian. More animals die before celebrations to feed people. Do we need sentient beings to suffer and die to titilate our palates? A well prepared vegetarian meal is more than satisfying. BTW, a salad or a vegetable dish is not a vegetarian meal for celebrations. There are cookbooks on vegetarian meals and there is the internet. When you eat vegetarian, there is less waste, less use of resources and less pollution. Go vegan if you can. I can't preach on that as I am not vegan. I depend on canned and otherwise ready to eat packaged food and while I can be vegetarian, the vegan is not an option for me. I hope it can some day.

So to all, I wish you a great year and God's blessings. Waste nothing, not even an animal's life.

Christmas.

Today is Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. We Christians believe that Christ was God made man, the Son of God. However, there are huge numbers of non Christians who celebrate it as a season of love and goodwill - what Christ taught, so I think it is a good thing. I don't want this post to be a religious discussion and I am not going to rant about the commercialisation of Christmas. Suffice to say that I love Christmas and become like a child with excitement at Christmas.

So we celebrate, eat, drink, exchange presents and are merry. All good, nothing sinful except for some overindulgence and gluttony. Food is an important aspect of Christmas to many. Is the way we eat at Christmas in line with the teachings of Christ of peace, mercy and compassion? Think about it. I know that many do not realise or do not want to know how their foods of choice of their joyful celebrations cause pain and suffering to others. Think about that turkey drumstick, that slice of ham or beef you put in your mouth. The turkey died, the pig died, the cow died. They did not die in their sleep. They suffered painful deaths and were terrified.

Think about your future choices please Think about your next meal. My plea is that while you continue to celebrate the birth of Christ you do not continue to be the cause of pain and suffering of others of God's creatures. Even if you just make one day a non meat day, that will be a start and a great step. A step towards making Earth what God wanted it to be - a paradise where the lion lays down with the lamb.

A Blessed Christmas to all. Eat so nothing suffers!

What I Eat.

It has been three years eight months since I became fully vegetarian. It was something I wanted to do, something I felt I had to do, for some time. It was a decision based on ethics. I have always loved animals, how could I eat them. I tell people I like my animals "on the hoof", alive.

I have never accepted the contention that we have the right to use animals. "Use" as in use and abuse. I have had companion animals all my life and I have no problems with that as long as I treat them properly. My animals are part of my family and I never give them away.

It is said that you would never eat meat again if you "visited" an abbatoir a.k.a a slaughterho use. I wonder about the people who work there, who slaughter as a living. Do they become desensitised or were they already desensitised to want to work at such a job.

My choice is taken differently by different people. Some interrogate me in a hostile manner. Many take it as an inconvenience as vegetarian food must always be available at dinner parties I attend. Some are kind enough to prepare or order something specially for me. There are those who believe a salad or any vegetable would be a sufficient repast.

We have a few vegetarians in my family so I am not alone. We are still very much in the minority. I have been trying gentle persuasion so they will at least reduce their meat eating. Its tough going and if I push harder, they will just dig in their heeels.

Going vegetarian is just a start for me. I want to go vegan, no eggs or dairy products too. I have realised that most dairy cows do not live in the green pastures shown in television ads. Their calves are slaughtered for veal or raised for beef. They are all slaughtered eventually. This would apply to most egg laying hens too. Unfortunately, this illness of mine has left me with disability and problems with among other things, cooking. I have problems getting vegan meals. My diet is not the best but the best I can do in the circumstances. I may need a miracle to vegan but anything is possible.

Going vegetarian and of course vegan, is a better choice for all. There will be less pollutants, more people can be fed with grain, fruits and greens and animals do not need to be raised just to be slaughtered. Don't forget the health advantages.

I do not need animals, sentient beings to suffer and die painful deaths so I can eat indulgently. I have no right to do so. I am pro life - all life.

I do not want the lives of sentient beings to be taken so I can eat

Compassion or Judgment.

We pass this world but once as the poet says. How then shall we live our lives in this world?

Everone has problems. We all have our burdens to bear. There is always so much to do but very little time in which to do it all.

Most of us are basically good and we want to do good. There is so much going on in the world for us to take in, reflect on and make a decision whether to take any action in response. So how do we respond?

We can criicise, we can condemn mistakes made and bad decisions. We can disagree with someone else's viewpoint vehemently with pure vitriol in your voice or in what you write.

Why not instead, listen and help if you can. Show understanding. Sympathise, empathise, share in the pain of another

Show compassion, do not pronounce judgment.