If I Were You...
Introduction
solve them, but have not figured HOW to implement it, and that is certainly the more important part of the equation! By writing this I suspect I
again, will spend time on a very lonely journey, as my solutions require humans look hard at themselves and their part in the world.
People can tell dry facts day and night and make no impact on us. The issue has to touch something inside us, to make us respond in a
visceral way, to grab our attention and make us sit up and listen. That happened to me about several issues currently going on in our world,
and it has evolved my overall belief about life.
To explain I will tell you a bit about myself. I am what is called middle-aged, I am in the medical field, and I am concerned about the world. I
believe global warming is real, and I love nature and all creatures of the Earth. Being aware I may lose about 50% of my readers, I am also
vegan. Being vegan has definitely had a huge impact on what I have come to believe about the world and about all of humankind. For some
reason, people think of vegans as adversarial or controversial. Mostly that is not the case.
Being vegan is not what people (people who don’t understand vegans, anyways!) seem to think it is. Most vegans are not extremists, nor are
they making sentimental and nonsensical choices. I will talk some about being vegan in this narrative, not to make you vegan, just to make
us all understand each other a little bit better!
What is your favorite news station? Newspaper? I saw a shirt the other day that said, “You are what you read,” but I also think you are also
what you listen to. There is no one single news show or source I advocate for. The truth is spoken rarely, and in such semantics, that actually
understanding comes from a lot more than a single ½ hour or 1 hr news show nightly at 5pm, on the same station! We are currently
challenged to get to the truth ourselves. There are powerful forces at work who would continue to benefit from talking you into voting against
YOURSELF.
First we have to start using the right language – we quit on ourselves. We allowed them to manipulate us. We first need to accept our role in
our own destiny, for if Americans (and in fact all people of the world) stood up for what is important to them, we would not be dealing with
some of the issues we are dealing with now.
Chapter One: Step One: Accepting Our Part
We let it go. I can’t figure out if we were feeling so prosperous that we stopped looking, if we were feeling so tired and sore that we didn't
have the energy to look, or if we were ever really looking very hard to begin with! I find fault with myself. Some of the things I now feel sure
about, I hadn't a clue were even going on years ago.
In the movie JFK, Kevin Costner’s character says something like, “My eyes are open now, and now that they are open, things that used to
sound normal now sound completely insane.” That is exactly how I feel.
I heard someone say recently that our current actions are “unconscionable,” and that word hit me hard. The definition per Encarta, of
unconscionable, is: “1. shocking and morally unacceptable; 2. far beyond what is considered reasonable.”
It is a heavy word. It means a lot to me. It mean a society where people are starving on the streets, killing each other, ignoring screams for
help; a world of cruelty, abuse, and the extreme and “unconscionable” suffering that we currently inflict upon other beings.
I am reminded of a saying from Jiddu Krishnamurti. "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
Krishnamurti was a renowned writer and speaker on philosophical and spiritual subjects. His subject matter included: psychological
revolution, the nature of the mind, meditation, human relationships, and bringing about positive change in society. He constantly stressed the
need for a revolution in the psyche of every human being and he emphasized that such revolution cannot be brought about by any external
entity, be it religious, political, or social. (Wikipedia). No external entity – Meaning YOU can choose to bring positive change to society, and
ONLY you. What I say or write barely matters, it is YOU that truly matters.
I saw a show some years ago, I can’t even remember the name, but these cultures were what we in America would call third-world. One of
the female ‘tribe members,' said she could not imagine living in any village where anyone would ever allow any other villager to go to bed
hungry. That simply would not be allowed!
In America we are well aware (at least according to that 5pm news show we watch), that many, many are suffering, yet most of us sleep
pretty well at night, knowing our daughter, our son, our parent, our dog or cat, is well fed and safe. Why is that enough for us? Should it be?
And in that vein, who determines THEM to be “third world?”
I often do some writing and posting about animal rights. I don't think a chicken should have the right to vote, but I do think all animals have a
right to be free of suffering at the hands of man. I recently got an e-mail in response to one of my posts. Towards the end of the mail, they
wrote the statement, "Even after all of this, I still say that man has never been as cruel to an animal as he has been to himself."
My reply was this:
- "I completely disagree with you – men are good to THEMSELVES, they just aren't good to men or mankind. Likely what you meant,
but there is a clear distinction. The reason men are evil to men actually boils down to the fact that they are good to THEMSELVES and
f*&k everyone else. That narrow-minded view is what will destroy all of us and continue to lend to the legacy of man being cruelest to
himself. Yes, we will destroy ourselves. No, I can’t do too much about it."
Part of this whole text is as simple as that. Helping our fellow man, our fellow beings, and our planet needs to be higher on our priority list.
Yes, we are all busy. Yes, most of us are broke. Yes, most of us are tired. But sometimes we are just plain lazy. There is a saying from Pirke
Avot, "You are not required to complete the task of repairing the world, neither are you free to abstain from it."
To fully appreciate the text of this writing you have to have a bit of dedication to sincerely seeing things from other’s perspectives, and maybe
allowing yourself to consider some unlikely, but altogether possible, scenarios! We Americans largely focus on the immediate - our job, our
commute (aww, just give ‘em the finger!), our family, our children, and our pets.
I think we can make a conscious decision not to think that way anymore. Sometimes we must FORCE ourselves not to ignore suffering, pain,
or any being who needs help. We have to do it only because WE KNOW WE SHOULD. No one is going to stand up and cheer for your
good deeds, and in fact most will go unrecognized and unappreciated. So what? Good needs neither reassurance nor applause. We MUST
care, we MUST stay moral and we MUST treasure being a good person more than we treasure any other SINGLE ONE thing, including our
own children. However, all children will ultimately benefit from a society that looks for the good of the whole, not only our individual needs.
Chapter Two: Step Two: Feel Life
Being an avid reader, listener, and people watcher, I will bring up a subject I contemplate at times. Many times I have seen shows or talk on
the death penalty. Some people are for the death penalty, and some are against the death penalty, but I wonder how many of us don’t clearly
know HOW we really feel. “What is she talking about,” you say?
I’m simply not sure we all have the true capacity or true ability to acknowledge how we may feel in the most extreme of situations.
Those who are for the death penalty – I believe you can only TRULY say you are for the death penalty if it is your son, daughter, or parent on
death row. Most would be completely and utterly AGAINST the death penalty under these circumstances, even when there is horrific death
and admitted guilt! If you are FOR the death penalty under these circumstances, then YES – you ARE for the death penalty. Otherwise I’m not
sure you can evaluate exactly where you stand.
Those of you against the death penalty – I do not wish this upon you, but you must put yourself in the place of someone whose family member
was murdered, maybe a child, who died a slow and terrifying, agonizing death at the hands of society’s lowest members (make it a worse
scenario than you are even imagining). If you (as people have) stood there and were AGAINST the death penalty in those circumstances,
then you ARE, in fact, against the death penalty.
My point is many people talk, not everyone FEELS. We must instill FEEL back in to our daily lives. We must be able to perceive and
understand what other beings feel. We must look past our family and our problems to really feel life, as we cannot imply that our solitary
circles are enough to make us well-rounded, cultured, productive, and understanding people.
Chapter Three: Step Three: What is right is NOT hard!
Truth and reality are important, yes, but not so important that we cannot determine right from wrong. I've no idea where we will be on health
care or the budget deficit next year (or even tomorrow), but no matter your 'take' on the issue, we CAN (hopefully) all agree – letting people
die for profit is WRONG, being kind and compassionate is RIGHT. What happens currently in animal agriculture is another example. Torture
and cruelty is WRONG. Knowing right from wrong is easy, and feeling life is also easy!
We should measure up only to our own standards of behavior, but we should make those standards very high. Again, I repeat, good needs
neither reassurance nor applause, so don’t expect it.
We AREN'T forced to be jerks. I don’t care how many hours you work, or how much stress you have. Unless you go home and beat your wife,
children, and dog, and are just an across-the-board jerk, you are no longer allowed to behave atrociously in your public or professional life
and go home and kiss your family. What we expect for our family, our children, our pets…to not go hungry, to have shelter, to be free of pain
and suffering…we absolutely MUST start expecting that of every facet of our lives. Sitting by the bed of your child with cancer should feel as
egregious to you as watching someone’s child dying the next bed over or on television. Similarly, watching the horror that happens on farms
every day should be just as offensive as someone abusing your pet.
We don’t FEEL for other beings as we feel for ourselves, and we often think that what we can’t or don’t see doesn't affect us. It is morally
imperative that we realize this is wrong and that moral apathy severely affects us, in the most negative ways possible.
We must FEEL life, and make it our own individual moral imperative to do what is right, like it or not!
Chapter Four: Step Four: Taking Responsibility for Shaping the Future
Every day thousands of things you do shape and define us. The thing every one has to understand is you ARE responsible for everything. If
you worked for the health plan that denied benefits to a patient, essentially YOU denied benefits. If you work for a company that tears down
rain forests to make room for more cattle, then essentially YOU have torn down the rain forests. AND, if you buy meat or dairy from a factory
farm (more than 95% of the meat sold in the United States), then YOU have been cruel and abusive to animals. That is the bottom line, as
uncomfortable for you as it may be.
There is a quote by Stanislaw Lee, “Each snowflake in an avalanche pleads not guilty.”
You would not seek a sermon from a priest who molested a child. You would not torture your beloved dog, then kill and eat him. You would
not look a cancer patient in the face and not treat them (most of us wouldn't, anyways). However, we continue to live with blinders on and feel
helpless, blaming everything but ourselves for the problems in the world. Every thing you buy has meaning and defines you. Every thing you
say shapes others feelings about you, and sometimes their concepts about their entire life! Every little thing we so desperately refuse to think
about define a society so wrapped in themselves that we have lost our passion and our compassion.
What can I do to make people care? The answers are so simple, but no one CARES to actually take responsibility for enacting those
answers. The chances of anyone reading this and making a change are slim. But I am driven to try.
I watched the movie Earthlings some time ago, and tried to figure out how to get people to watch the movie. Most people wouldn't watch it,
as they would find it “too graphic” or “too offensive” (even though they will eat it, they find they cannot watch it - this hiding from the truth really
bothers me). I began a letter, thinking I would give away copies of the movie with my letter, and plead with people to watch it. I wrote the
letter, as follows:
For all the people I know, and maybe some that I don’t!
I saw this film recently, and it made such a huge impact on me that I obtained a bunch of copies to give away, and I am going to try and give a copy to everyone
I know. It made me examine how our every day lives affect so many. I do not want the movie back, it is yours to keep (I’ll explain more about that later!). No
one wants to ruin your dinner or change your life for the worse, but compassionate people need help in advocating for compassion. That is why I am asking
others to choose to understand the basic issues in which we urgently need to promote understanding and humanity.
I completely understand that self-protection and reason will likely stop you from watching this film. Ben Franklin once said, "So convenient a thing it is to be a
reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do!" But, I ask the question, “If not you, then who do you
think will watch it?” The answer, sadly, for me and for many people desperately trying to stop suffering and promote caring about our planet, is NO ONE will.
That is what is the saddest of all, an entire industry built of suffering and planetary destruction, and no one will watch or care. We who rack our brains daily
trying to figure out a way to show the masses how important it is to LOOK, to KNOW, and to HELP; we know you probably will not watch, and we don’t
know what to say to get through to you or to make you.
Most people believe that many protections and laws are in place to protect the Earth, its creatures, and the health of you and your family, but this is simply not
true. And the reason there are NOT is for the same as this very letter - that people won’t watch, creating an ‘anything goes’ policy of our Earth and its
resources, and putting you at risk. If people did watch, they would surely react, as yes, it is that bad and worse. There would be a massive uprising demanding
clean food free of such horrible conditions that put your health at risk and is so abusive that ‘normal’ thinking people don’t even really believe it could be true, if
people would only look. It would show you how we are destroying and degrading the Earth, how every day we make choices that hurt VERY MUCH, choices
we make for our own means that we have overwhelmingly deemed more important than our Earth, our health, and our very humanity. If you believe you are
not responsible simply by not watching, by not acknowledging, by not looking - you are wrong, as our choices are what define us, and define what we care
about.
As far as watching this - I would happily beg you, or write 100 more pages pleading with you if I thought it would help convince you to SEE, to WATCH, and
to KNOW reality that those of us trying to help live with every day. People who care need other people who care to make real reform and real change that will
help the planet, help all living creatures, and help our health and our food standards.
1. Please do not return this film to me. If you know someone who may be looking to help the planet, then please pass it along to them. If you've no intent to
involve yourself or watch it, or pass it along to someone else, then just throw it away.
2. If you do not plan on watching it I do not want to know! I sincerely find that depressing as I am at a loss as to what to do to make people care about the
consequences of their daily actions, and would rather believe that maybe you chose to watch than outright know you did not!
3. I will continue to do everything I can to make changes in people that better the lives of all creatures on this planet, including protections for the
lives of you and your family.
4. I will continue to fight for this planet, as she cannot speak for herself.
5. I will live the sadness most refuse to see – for the animals who are being confined and terrorized.
I sincerely thank you…this is not trying to be judgmental…just trying to alleviate suffering in the world and promote compassion and respect for our
planet…what could possibly be wrong or bad about that?
May all beings be free of suffering…love and respect our Earth
Thank you.
OK, so first of all, what do you think?
Anyways, I was very motivated when I started the letter. I blazed through it, but as the 10-15 minutes it took me to write it passed, I began to
feel let down. When I was done I felt downright depressed. Why? Because I knew it wouldn't really help. I knew it would be trashed. I knew I
had little bearing on their world. I am following through with the plan (heck, yeah), and giving out copies, and that is exactly my point. I know it
is pointless, or at least think it probably is, but I MUST do what my own convictions say I must – try anyways! I am sad, discouraged, and
frustrated, but I will not tuck my head and give up – I cannot. I will do what I know is right (and remember – what is right is NOT hard!).
Remember that saying from Jiddu Krishnamurti? "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society?" And the
description of his philosophy: “He constantly stressed the need for a revolution in the psyche of every human being and emphasized that
such revolution cannot be brought about by any external entity.” That is what hit me when done and sitting feeling depressed, confused and
dissatisfied. I am external to you. I cannot influence you. I can write and write, and talk and talk, but when all is said and done, only you can
choose to influence yourself.
Not too long ago, a neighbor of ours moved very suddenly. We found out only after the fact that she had been unable to pay her mortgage
and lost her home for a rather small amount of money, something like $5,000. I was really upset I hadn't known. I felt like we should have
helped her. Not ME – WE. You, my neighbor, me – all of us. If I knew, and had the money, I would have given it to her. All who know me know
this is true. I didn't really know her or particularly care about her. That is not the point. I will not allow suffering or pain of it is in my power to
prevent or alleviate it. I have simply decided this for my life.
I watch who I buy from, no matter how small the item. In doing so I make a statement every day about what matters to me. And what matters
to me is compassion. For all to be free of suffering, and for all of us to realize that we are ALL important! If it isn't your child that is suffering,
remember that it could be. If it isn't your animal being tortured, remember that it could be.
Chapter Five: Veganism as a Part of This
Now don’t just think, oh, here we go, because you had to know from the beginning there would be some mention of this subject! I am not
preaching, and I maintain that I do not hate or dislike you if you eat meat or dairy, I only wish you would accept and then REJECT the torture
inflicted upon other beings every day.
There are some who will say, "Well, nature itself is very brutal and vicious," when you talk to them about the cruel and abusive nature of
today's farms.
Sure, the animal world and real nature is cruel to its creatures. We as humans know better. They are out there fighting for their very survival,
and we are not. You are not (under most circumstances) fighting for your life working in your garden, going to work, eating dinner, etc.
Farmers are not fighting for their life on a farm.
Humans must hold ourselves to a high standard. The argument that animals are less developed than humans holds no water with me. If they
can feel pain, hear, see, smell, and feel fear, then they deserve protection, as the argument could be made that a severely retarded child
could have LESS measurable intelligence than a farm animal, so do we then offer them less love or respect?
Of course not.
Innocent beings are innocent beings; it is time for the world to recognize that fact.
I keep saying to my family I want to make a offensive bumper sticker that simply says, “Stop saying you love animals.” To me it is like saying
you love children but then buying all your clothes from a miserable child sweatshop or a child molester! It belies your message. It is the same
with animals. If you allow their torture, confinement, and death, you don’t love animals all that much!
Since I am acutely aware of the current unbelievably horrific farms of today, I find it morally “unconscionable” that people are not completely
outraged by the facts. Yet, say “vegetarian” or “vegan” to most people, guys especially, their eyes glaze over, and they accidentally blurt out,
“bacon.”
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