My 2018 For Animals

It's been over a year since I last ate meat.  At the tailend of 2016, I made a call to stop eating meat cold turkey (now a seemingly inappropriate reference).   Let me be clear.  This has nothing to do with health.  It's a not a "diet".   These are not doctors orders.

It has everything to do with my bunnies, with my love for animals, with consistency of character.  

I suppose a lot of people cannot begin to relate with that (or are even interested to).  At the most basic, a lot of people love their own dogs and cats.  They pamper, buy nice things and give medical care.  Their own dogs and cats.   But they are unable to transcend this care to other dogs and cats that are being abandoned and abused.  As such, they see only a microcosm of the issue.  They breed one or two pups to be given away or sold to friends.  It seems harmless until you think about the thousands of animals that have no home. One more you breed is one less that can have a home.

If at that level, we already don't recognize the problem, then we probably won't understand that a cow deserves as much love and care as a dog.  I recall this bruhaha about the killing of a dog in a film last year.  While I agree with the indignation,  I can't help but hope (in vain) that people will take that indignation and extend it to other animals.  Millions of animals get slaughtered every year.  Why cry over the dog and not all the other animals?  

There's also the case for church going, spirit preaching, love for fellow man espousing folks.  They too are unable to transcend this pursuit of purity with mercy for animals.  How does this not reek of hypocrisy?   Pray and kill.  Pray and kill.

Or perhaps there is a valiant bread winner who takes pride in putting food on the table.  That is noble, no doubt about it.  But it can also be achieved without being cruel to animals.  With proper planning, you can have sufficient nutrition from all plant sources.  Ultimately, his human drama is not a reason to kill.

I always lament that found my soul very late in my life. And even now, I haven't even reached half my destination. I am still unable to give up fish, cheese and some other animal products.  But my hope is that at least, my awareness is already there and that I will find the strength to be more compassionate to animals.  Let's see what 2018 brings.  My most tangible steps for this year will be to shift to non-dairy milk.  Fortunately, I find both almond and rice milk to be delicious.

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