THE ULTIMATE PEACE

When I became aware of the plight of voiceless, sentient beings in the service of providing humans with faulty medical experiments, food, product testing, entertainment, clothing and a myriad of other human desires, I changed. I became aware, healthy, educated and spiritually enlightened. I also became enraged and active in my pursuit of doing everything in my power to offset the horrific, torture that non-humans endure for our benefit. At least we think what is derived is benefit. The truth is it’s killing us too. Animal products are killing us physically-today there is no dispute of this. Faulty medical research in search not of cures but more grant money is killing us with inappropriate findings. Pollution, soil erosion, water and resource depletion is a direct result of agribusiness-it’s killing us. Rainforest degradation occurs for hamburgers. Not to mention the spiritual impact. Think about it. What is the cost of living our lives this way? Certainly, one must admit that the financial costs associated with ill health, disease, pollution and all the other ramifications relative to use of animals is tremendous. But, do you ever stop and think about the spiritual costs? The systemic and systematic murder and torture of non-human animals that occurs over 9 billion times a year in this country alone should at least give one pause to reflect-why? Is it o.k. to take the life of another? Is it o.k. to render non-humans as non-feeling? Do we as humans having an ability to reason and form ethical judgments using the knowledge accumulated throughout time, have the right to impede on or take the lives of other feeling organisms, particularly when we are not forced to do so by hunger or dietary need, but rather do so for the somewhat frivolous reason that we may like meat, fur coats, circuses, etc. I urge you to think about this world we have created. We talk of peace as if it has but one domain-humans. How can we as humans, ever even have a hope for peace if we so unconsciously torture, maime, deprive and exploit voiceless beings for the sake of our so called comforts? This entitlement, some may say birthright will always be our stumbling block to true peace. The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they feel pain? Humans, who enslave, torture, experiment on and exploit other animals (and we all do if we support industries that practice these atrocities)have had an understandable penchant for pretending that animals do not feel pain. A sharp distinction between non-humans and humans is essential if we are to bend them to our will, wear them, eat them, experiment on them, hunt them, without any tinges of guilt or regret. How can we ever attain peace when this level of obscene violence is so part and parcel of our every day life? It’s common knowledge that if the average American was to visit a slaughterhouse, a fur “ranch”, a back tent in a circus, a factory farm or a laboratory that experiments on animals-we would soon be on the way to becoming a nation of vegetarians and I say let’s hurry up and do it- our lives, our planet our souls depend on it. I think we have a spiritual problem here. Please join Compassionate Connections in its’ ongoing quest for peace. Ask for Steve.

Steve Bernstein
Surry Rd.
Gilsum,