On My Mind

What's on my mind today......animals. And how we treat them. Overall they are treated awful. We eat them, use them and abuse them.
Let's start with the fur industry. I have nothing made of real fur. Fake fur is just as nice and nobody (unless you are an expert) can tell the difference. To wear a coat made from the fur of some animal that was only brought up to be slaughtered for it's fur is just horrible. Or how about the coyotes that are trapped so their fur can be used for Canada Goose jackets?
After seeing these pictures, could you bring yourself to wear a Canada Goose jacket? The pain and suffering is written all over those poor animals. Don't you agree after looking at these pictures?



Canada Goose claim that they use real fur instead of fake fur because real fur is warmer and their product is intended for colder weather, like in North America where you would want to protect your face from frostbite. OK, I live in Alaska and I have never experienced frostbite even when walking Chhaya in - 20 and - 30 °F. I just bundle up and cover my face with a scarf, sure I have been cold, even very cold but it's not like I am climbing Mount Everest or anything. Even the guys that work up on the North Slope here in Alaska during the cold months don't wear fur jackets.
Canada Goose also claim that their use of fur is ethical and responsible. To me it looks like those animals are suffering A LOT. It's one thing to shoot an animal dead on the spot and a completely different story to trap it and let it suffer until it slowly dies in pain. If you had to pick a way to die, would you rather die quickly and somewhat painlessly or drag it out for days while trapped somewhere?



I do not want to be a hypocrite here. I do have stuff made of leather and I own a down jacket. But I am not going to buy another down jacket now that I know more about that industry.
I got my last down jacket in 2006. There is a product out there called PrimaLoft and it is a great alternative to down. I also have shoes and pants made of leather. That leather is a by product of the meat industry, so basically the animal was killed for it's meat and after that the leftover skin was made into a leather product. I wonder if there is a manufacturer out there that makes leather products of animals that die from natural causes? I need to look into that.
As far as eating animals, I have mainly not been eating animals since more than 12 years now. Yes, I do make exceptions now and then but I have went through periods of years without a bite of meat. I am not a vegan, I do eat milk products and eggs. It is proven that most of the slaughtered animals that end up at your table or when you get that KFC or burger in the drive through have been pumped full of hormones and antibiotics. That is poison that you eat too. Their lives are miserable and they go through enormous stress and are treated horrible. I can also tell you this.....when I first arrived to the US I went to McDonald's and ordered a Big Mac. It tasted so weird and off to me that I couldn't finish it, that was my last Big Mac. There was something with the meat, it tasted different in the US than it did in Sweden, it tasted BAD.
People that claim they need meat to survive don't know what they are talking about, they base their opinion on some facts they haven't even bothered to look up. I think that I look perfectly healthy and I also feel healthy and I can get plenty of protein from yoghurt, nuts and grains like quinoa. I can get my iron intake from vegetables and fruit, no need to get it from the blood of an animal.
Also, most vegetarians are indeed healthier than meat eaters. Just some examples, lower BMI, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure and lower incidents of colon cancer. There you go!
There was a Greek philosopher and mathematician that lived in the 6th century BC, Pythagoras. A very intelligent man, he called himself a lover of wisdom and I think that is beautiful. He did contribute to a lot of important developments, read up on him and marvel at his intelligence! He was also a vegetarian. Actually before non meat eaters were called vegetarians they were called Pythagoreans. He believed that non violence towards animals was the first step towards the same amongst humans. Kind of makes sense, doesn't it?

Here are some quotes by Pythagoras that I found.

"When you place the flesh of slaughtered cattle in your mouths, know and feel, that you are devouring your fellow-creature."

"Alas, what wickedness to swallow flesh into our own flesh, to fatten our greedy bodies by cramming in other bodies, to have one living creature fed by the death of another! In the midst of such wealth as earth, the best of mothers, provides, nothing forsooth satisfies you, but to behave like the Cyclopes, inflicting sorry wounds with cruel teeth! You cannot appease the hungry cravings of your wicked, gluttonous stomachs except by destroying some other life."

"As long as man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."

"Animals share with us the privilege of having a soul."

"If men with fleshly mortals must be fed,
And chew with bleeding teeth the breathing bread;
What else is this but to devour our guests,
And barbarously renew Cyclopean feasts?
While Earth not only can your needs supply,
But, lavish of her store, provides for luxury;
A guiltless feast administers with ease,
And without blood is prodigal to please."

I wonder how a person that lived in the 6th century BC held so much wisdom and compassion in a time when people survived without the comforts and distractions that we are accustomed to and take for granted today, while so many of us today in "modern times" are so barbaric towards animals. Why is that?

I am getting sad and upset in my heart while writing this. I'm at Coffee Roaster and I don't want to cry. Let's leave this discussion with a fitting quote by Mahatma Gandhi.



I wrote a blog a while back that I called Meat Free Monday. I think that everybody can make an effort in eating less meat. Read that blog here
One of my very nice readers say that I have a sphere of influence. Maybe I do.....I hope that I have influenced at least SOMEBODY with this entry to stop and think and make a better and more compassionate choice from now on whether it's about not wearing fur or eating less meat or perhaps maybe becoming a vegetarian. The Golden Rule is to treat others the way you want to be treated, that includes animals, they are our friends! ❤