Want Peace On Earth? Go Vegan.
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I hate the holidays. There, I said it. And it has nothing to do with the fact that I was born two days before Christmas and that I always got ripped off by friends and family when it came to gift-giving. “Hey Dan, here is your birthday/Christmas present,” or “Sorry Dan, with Christmas so close, all I could get you was this crummy…” But I digress.
The reason I don’t like this time of year is because it really hits home just how different I am from all my friends, coworkers, and even family members. When you tell people you don’t celebrate Christmas, they often look at you as if you have three heads or something.
“Are you Jewish? Jehovah’s Witness? Seventh Day Adventist? Well then what the hell’s wrong with you? What have you got against peace on earth, goodwill to mankind and all that other crap? You’re not a Commie, are you?”
No, I’m not Jewish, a Jehovah’s Witness, a Seventh Day Adventist or a Communist. I’m agnostic (meaning I don’t know and I don’t care), but more importantly I’m vegan. To be vegan is to choose peace over oppression, compassion over cruelty and life over death (ironically, the same things that Christians claim to espouse).
That’s why I don’t celebrate Christmas. I think it’s a sham. And I don’t think most people who celebrate it really believe in it either, or at least what it’s supposed to be about. If they did, there’d be a lot less violence in the world. And if they do, then I suspect it’s only a seasonal thing, like the flu, and as soon as the Christmas tree is thrown to the curb, so too are those warm and fuzzy feelings; the ones we should have every day of the year.
To quote Abigail Adams, “We have too many high-sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them.” Sure, we like to think of ourselves as kind, compassionate and peace-loving, but our actions don’t really reflect that, do they? We don’t really practice what we preach.
The only thing we do practice religiously is the law of instant gratification; the fine art of pleasing ourselves. And the only thing that seems to matter is what’s on sale. Instead of volunteering at soup kitchens and homeless shelters, people are trampling each other (in some cases to death) at retail outlets to save a few bucks on their favourite video game or dolly. The Big Box stores are our new gods and we spend more time inside them than we do in our churches.
We continue to wage war on our brothers and sisters to control and possess their natural resources. We support the exploitation of men, women and children for cheap labour so we can have our stuff. We pollute the land, sea and air knowing full well that we’re doing it and how harmful it is to our health. And we enslave, kill and eat other animals because God apparently told us to and because we’re at the top of the food chain, we’re special and we deserve it.
Then on December 25th we get together with loved ones to exchange presents, feast on the remains of tortured animals (with all the trimmings) and bask in our own arrogance and false sense of benevolence, never questioning our beliefs and traditions or the consequences of how we live and how our lifestyles affects others. And so I’ll continue to boycott Christmas until we begin to live up to our high-sounding words.
But there is a light at the end of this dark Xmas tunnel: the year is almost at an end. That means a new year is just around the corner and with a new year comes the opportunity to start over; a chance to be the best YOU that you can be and improve the lives of others.
If you care about the suffering of others, the exploitation of the weak and the growing violence both here and around the world, then do something about it. Make it your New Year’s resolution to go vegan. It’s cheap, it’s easy and it’s guaranteed to reduce a lot of unnecessary suffering in the world.
Activists! Post this “Holiday Thought” anywhere you can (email, blogs, facebook..). http://www.plantpeacedaily.org/files/Peace_on_Earth.pdf
Peace on Earth???
Aren’t humans amazing Animals? They kill wildlife – birds, deer, all kinds of cats, coyotes, beavers, groundhogs, mice and foxes by the million in order to protect their domestic animals and their feed.
Then they kill domestic animals by the billion and eat them. This in turn kills people by the million, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative – and fatal – - health conditions like heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and cancer.
So then humans spend billions of dollars torturing and killing millions of 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, few people recognize the absurdity of humans, who kill so easily and violently, and once a year send out cards praying for “Peace on Earth.”
~Revised Preface to Old MacDonald’s Factory Farm by C. David Coates~
Check out this informative and inspiring video on why people choose vegan: http://veganvideo.org/
Also see Gary Yourofsky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bagt5L9wXGo
Bah, humbug back at you! I couldn’t agree more about how disappointing it is to see so many focus on consumerism and superficial trappings. All the while missing the whole point, and SCOPE of “good will” and “peace”. Surely it is not kind on any day of the year, to deny our generosity of fair and compassionate treatment.
The only way I keep my sanity through, it is to just realize they don’t know what they are doing. It’s sad how many don’t question the harm they do… But to those who “know” but don’t care? Ha! I hope Santa gifts them a big, fat lump of coal!
I admire your honest post! Have a merry anyways…
.-= Bea Elliott´s last blog ..TODAY 128,998 COWS WERE NOT KILLED BY ARROWS =-.
Well Said!
I’m curious: what of the Christians that are vegans? What of those who really do try to live peace-filled, compassionate lives BECAUSE of their belief in the real meaning of Christmas; that God came to us as one of us, lived said loving, compassionate and righteous life and then gave himself up to a torturous death for the very purpose of saving and redeeming that which was lost?
Christmas is about God, out of his love, coming for the prostitute, the thief, the liar, the greedy, the murderer, the sluggard, the adulturer, the wounded, the prisoner, the oppressed, the outcast, the impoverished, the hopeless, the orphaned, the widowed, the lonely, the LOST who can not help themselves, which is the very reason they need a savior in the first place. Christmas is all about GRACE; about getting what we don’t deserve instead of what we do deserve.
I do concur with you about how hateful cultural Christmas is; it’s likely I loathe it even more than you, because I know what Christmas is really about and I DO believe it. I count myself among the lost and the grateful recipient of grace and forgiveness. It’s the reason I’m a vegan. It’s the reason I own one car which is a Prius. It’s the reason behind EVERYTHING in my life which I won’t bore with. There IS less violence in my world which amounts to a modest home in CT filled with 3 drug-free, communicative teenagers, a husband and wife with a happy marriage, and 2 ridiculously spoiled cats. It’s a start, which is really all one can ask for with hope and faith that it grows.
I’ll confess that in spite of my convictions and beliefs about grace I’m inclined to feel offended and highly vexed at your attitude and condemnation of religious people and their motives when it’s obvious you know very little about them/me. To quote: “I don’t know and I don’t care.” I’m sorely tempted to post some sarcastic, biting comment about your beliefs. It would sure feel pretty good. But, in the end, it only proves that my understanding of my being lost is spot on. I’m a sinner, plain and simple, and Christmas – indeed, every day – means everything to me because of Christ.
But, I won’t do it; I’d rather just be honest and tell you what I think, which is, if you want to post your opinions and judgements about things, you might do better to learn more about them so at a minimum you’ll be able to have a well-rounded understanding of the issues and the people they revolve around. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion but that doesn’t make them right…or righteous.
Leslie,
Why don’t you contribute an article to The Soapbox to represent the religious vegans? What you’ve written in the comments could easily be turned into an article.
Eccentric Vegan, thanks for the encouragement. At some point, I may just do that. I really enjoy this site; I always find insightful, intelligent and sometimes, challenging input and visit it regularly. I believe religious vegans need to contribute more to this ongoing conversation and movement. It’s one of the reasons I started my own blog. I included the link below for anyone interested in reading about this issue through the particular lens of Christianity. It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. Some extreme and trying personal circumstances have, for the time being, eclipsed my time and creative energy, but I think what I’ve written might offer some insight into the issues of animal exploitation as viewed through a faith perspective. I agree with Daniel that Christianity and Christians are extremely remiss in addressing this issue, as a matter of personal holiness and social justice. My blog seeks to change that in any way it can.
However, I’m encouraged. There are a great many Christians out there who DO care, who are vegan, who are actively campaigning for the church to recognize its divine mandate and resulting responsibility to God’s creatures and creation, and it’s working.
http://web.me.com/lstrovas/All_Things_New:_A_Christian_Conversation_on_Food/Welcome.html