Who Came First: the Human or the Egg?

***This is a blog, I posted on my Myspace account, back on April 25, 2007.

Rehashing it here, since the subject was brought up recently. The sentiments, almost a year ago, still ring true for me today and will never change...


I just wanted to make something very clear to those who might have certain "issues" with my choice to be a vegan and the whole animal rights (AR) movement in itself.

This blog isn't in response or retaliation to any particular person or inquiry, but rather my way of communicating my personal ethics, mostly for my benefit, and also so that my friends and those who care to know, will know where I stand about certain things.

Critics of the AR movement are always asking the question, "How can you justify spending your time helping animals when there are so many people who need help?"

I am not saying that we should only focus our attention on animal rights, and forget about human rights and all the human suffering that is going on in the world today. That is not the point and the message.

There are very serious problems in the world that deserve our attention, and cruelty to animals is one of them. We should try to alleviate ALL suffering — whether human or animal — whenever we can. Helping animals is not any more or less important than helping human beings — they are both important. Animal suffering and human suffering are interconnected and the same to me.

The atrocities that are committed against innocent women and children in the Darfur genocide, to the sexual abuse of innocent children by their own parents in America, all stem from the same ugly and evil ideology — that dominating/hurting/exploiting/ another person…or animal just because we think we have the right to and we deem ourselves more powerful than them. It's all a perception of control and superiority.

Just as the woman in Darfur screeches in horror at the sight of her three children torn from her arms and raped and burned alive in front of her, so does a cow sickeningly bellow instinctually when her new-born calf is torn way from her and shoved into a crate for veal production.

Suffering is suffering. We all have to do our part in ending it. For everyone.

I have a tremendously compassionate heart and burden for all those who suffer and I want to do whatever I can, to help anyone. I personally feel that God has given me a special calling to be a champion for the rights or animals, because they are so defenseless. But that doesn't mean I don't care about the other human causes around the world. I will do whatever I can to help any cause…that believes in treating everyone and everything with love and nonviolence.

So please, find your passion. It may be helping animals, feeding the hungry, or clothing the poor, or just being a kind and compassionate person to the people in your daily life. Whatever it is, do it and tell everyone about it. So that others will be aware…and eventually make a difference.***