Animal ‘use’ is always abuse

214: Monday 25th

If we aren’t ready to move on, towards being vegan, we’re still lumped in with the meat heads - if we’re animal consumers we can’t condemn their abuse. If you don’t eat meat but still use animal by-products they’re still involved in the same level of cruelty and sometimes worse. Look at the egg-laying hen, for example, and what she has to suffer.
If you’re not vegan you can hardly advocate for animal rights, that is if you want to avoid sounding hypocritical. By the same token, the onus is on vegans to take up animal-advocacy ... and if we can’t buy cruelty-free we don’t buy at all.
If we aren’t vegan, we can never play a part in animal liberation, let alone the world-wide-awakening of consciousness. To rule ourselves out of that process might leave us with not a lot of meaning left in our life, simply because we’re still so subservient to The System.
If we can’t leave it, if we can’t change it, and if we’re unable to condemn it because we also condone it, we’re effectively hand-tied. Most people are still falling for second best, falling into the arms of what they now best, the-traditional-way. What’s left after you take that away, the escape, future prospects, expounding the future? Not much. We can only divert ourselves with things like entertainment and eating. The energy expended on seeking pleasure is absolute, pleasure, duty, sleep. And that very same energy could be used to help end waste and cruelty.
By doggedly remaining omnivores we’re blocking a better source of satisfaction. If we don’t advocate for animals (and boy, do we at least owe them that!), we’re effectively taking the part of ‘gaoler’, retreating back into childhood, into the fun world ... (keep the laughs coming) ... it’s probably a poor substitute for many better meaningful, passionate and goal-oriented activities. (Wow, it’s easy to sound pompous, ha, ha, ha.)
At the end of the day – bed time - imagine: a feeling that we couldn’t have done better with our day. We may not be experiencing pure ecstasy on a daily basis, but isn’t it better to lie down to sleep, knowing we’ve minimised harm.