Choose compassion this holiday

A holiday thought — become a vegan

As Christmas approaches, I am reminded of this plea by author C. David Coates:

Isn’t man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife — birds, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice, foxes, and wolves — by the millions in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billions and eats them. This, in turn, kills man by the millions, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative — and fatal — health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year sends out a card praying for “Peace on Earth.”
• Wildlife “services” killed more than 3.2 million animals during fiscal year 2015. This rogue agency does it at taxpayers’ expense. The total does not include wildlife that ranchers kill on public land.

• In 2014, the U.S. raised and killed 9.5 billion land animals for food.

• The U.S. Surgeon General has stated that 68 percent of all human disease is diet-related.

• Each year, it is estimated that more than 100 million animals — including mice, rats, frogs, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, monkeys, fish and birds — are killed in U.S. laboratories.

• Every 10 seconds, a child dies from hunger. Approximately 21,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations.

• It is estimated that if North Americans were to give up just 10 percent of their intake of animal protein, enough grain would be freed up to feed every human being on Earth, who goes to bed hungry.
As painful as it is to reflect on inconsistencies that so many humans share, none of us are forever locked into this cycle of violence. Each of us has the power to choose compassion (for humans and animals), sustainability and improved health.

Please join the tens of millions of other caring people by visiting these websites to align your core values with life-affirming choices: veganvideo.org and veganuary.com. As someone who made the switch many decades ago, I can tell you, the transformation is immensely rewarding on so many levels.