Have you seen this?
http://www.earthlings.com/earthlings/video-full.php
Its beautiful, and painful at the same time....and worth the watch.
Hope this finds you well my friend.
Nikki
This is not a vegan blog …
Posted By Harry on August 1, 2011
A Gentle Place was not set up to be a vegan blog. There are already plenty of those out there. They inspire me, educate me, challenge me, support me, nourish me - just last night we had guests over for dinner: Moroccan vegan meal prepared by Sue and Vegan Black Bean Brownies prepared by your Harry thanks to Lindsay aka Happy Herbivore. Fairly scrumptious! No, this is not a vegan blog – it is a blog with a vision to support and inspire those many of us that desire a gentler world. So, given this and the fact that the last few posts have been particularly vegan-oriented, I thought I’d pen a post on the numerous things that I consider would be of help to us in reaching that gentler place:
Embrace Other
Be them black, white, yellow, red, or olive-skinned with a Greek accent. Embrace. Heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, metrosexual or asexual. Embrace. Bus driver, lawyer, chimney sweeper, doctor, airport toilet cleaner. Embrace. From a poor suburb, rich suburb, or just the wrong suburb over the hill. Embrace. They are only other from where we are standing. Embrace them and our lives, and theirs, will be gentler for it.
Anti-Apartheid logo
Hug a Tree
Better still, chain yourself to the 500 year old tree to stop the logger from sending its majestic crown crashing to the rainforest floor. Stand tall for that tree. And the one next to it. And the one next to that. They are our lungs and should not be pulped into paper without considering how much lung is left. An earth without trees is a harsh, cold, lifeless one. We need their gentle breath. (And when you’ve saved the tree, remember to hug the logger – he’s simply other.)
Support the Salvos
Or Vinnies. Or the old lady down the road that’s been running a self-funded soup kitchen for 35 years. Do shifts to give her a break. Pay for ingredients. Deliver Christmas lunches to those living on the street. Every Christmas. Your efforts will lead to many gentle smiles. A gentler world for all those hearts you touch.
Walk a dog
At the local Dogs’ Home. Every week without fail until she’s adopted. Then walk another. Every week. Or adopt 1 or 2 or 3 yourself. An older dog. A blind dog. A dog that will most likely be euthanised if you don’t. You’ll save at least one gentle life.
Max, 12 years old. Awaiting adoption from the Dogs' Home of Tasmania.
Protest against War
Against senseless killing. Against the wrong solution. Against the loss of so many young lives. Children really. Patriotically fighting for their country. Cover your car’s rear window with anti-war slogans. Brightly coloured. Don’t believe it when you’re told, ‘War is the only answer’. It’s not. And it’s anything but gentle.
Love, Truly love
Your mother, father, brother, sister, daughter, stepson, grandson, partner. Like there’s no tomorrow. When you’re feeling shitty don’t be shitty. Don’t take it out on those around you. Love. Truly Love. Now we’re talking a real gentle world immediately around you.
Mother & son Love: Tobi & Thomas arm-in-arm
Choose gentle choices
Awaken every day determined to choose gently. Don gentle clothes. Pull on gentle shoes. Not the skins of others who have died unnecessarily for you.
Eat a gentle breakfast. Whiten your coffee with a gentle milk. Don’t feed on the flesh of others. Or drink the breastmilk of those whose babies have become ‘freezer packs’ so that their milk can flow to you.
At work grab a quick (if you must) but gentle lunch. Not a sandwich laced with eggs from a chicken whose life has some value only as long as she’s ‘machining’ out those eggs. Be she in a cage with a wire-mesh floor the size of an A4 sheet of paper, in an artificially lit barn or truly free-ranging, she must lay eggs for you or her continued life, what should be a gentle life but is instead a life brought into this world for you, becomes too costly.
When shopping on the way home, read every label. Don’t buy cruelty. Every choice you make counts. Choose gently.
End your day with a gentle dinner. One that makes your heart and arteries and bowels sing with the lightness of it. And leaves gentle others to live their own gentle lives.
An Avondale harvest
So no, this is not a vegan blog. It’s a blog about being more gentle so that the world can be more gentle. A blog to hopefully offer some inspiration so that we, each with our own faults and failures and imperfections, can head towards that gentle place together.
It’s a blog about gentle actions. And gentle choices. Some of those gentle choices might just be termed vegan …
Jesus, our Good Shepherd, told us the greatest commandment was to “love one another.” There is no indication that He meant this to include only humans. He created animals and He loves them dearly. Loving is perfect kindness. When one is kind, then one is gentle. We must stop being so self-centered. We must understand that our choices can affect others in ways we never even considered. We should encourage one another to take a stand against cruelty in any form. We need to be like Jesus.
Yes, being kind and gentle to humans is just the start. An important start but one that reaches just a few in our world. Being kind and gentle to animals, birds, insects … then, and only then, do we really start talking gentle.
Good stuff…thanks
VE, in time there will be a lot more Nessie Rae’s (bunny people) telling you (gentle people) the profound difference you are making. Simple steps. Simple choices. Simply gentle.
Dear Gentle Harry,
Please do your gentle readers the gentle favor of gently asking the gentle Dogs’ Home of Tasmania whether gentle Max has been adopted by gentle folk. And if and when so, please gently let us know.
Gentle greetings to Tobi and Thomas, your gentle friends — and ours, by gentle extension.
Gently yours,
CQ
Thank you Harry! From the materially practical black bean brownie recipe to the wise sense of how to heal ourselves and our planet – I love the place your advice comes from… And how it gently guides us to where we ought to be.
CQ – I shall do and thank you. As was discussed on one of VeganElder’s posts (I think) some time ago we all wish that we could give permanent homes to all animals in need. Max is no exception and posting his picture stokes the fire of internal conflict: for Avondale we have a relative limit that is dictated by time, space and, we believe, love available for those who become our family. However, it’s not uncommon for me to ponder doing it differently as does a friend of ours, Emma (Brightside Farm Sanctuary), who does not seem to have a limit. What we really need of course is far fewer animals in need … a result that will come with greater connection to those around us.
Bea, if you have not tried those black bean brownies yet I strongly encourage you to do so – they’re quick and easy to make (I even managed) and I’m sure they’re full of some real healing!!!
What a lovely gentle post! Thank you. Maybe I should have read it before commenting on the other?
Thanks HGV for the comment. And I am very glad you did read the other one first so that your comment was posted. Comments that take a different angle from, or partly or fully disagree with, what you have written are always good food for thought. And yours has been no exception. I shall wait a while longer for other replies to your comment on “Is ‘humane’ killing of animals for our use OK?” before I post my thoughts and reasons why I wrote the post.
Sometimes I tell myself to wait 24 hours before I post or reply to anything (or at least make sure that I’m not feeling irritable about something else already), but then that might dilute my original thougths so I never know what’s better, snort. Ah well.
I think Harry… That this “societal misfit” may have left you an opening to clarify your position. I look forward to hearing your thoughts as I intend to elaborate mine elsewhere too.
Nothing like airing out the laundry, especially when we know it all comes from a place that’s pure…
Hi Bea
Please see some of that laundry here. My reply became somewhat lengthy …
Harry