For The Love Of Animals

Most of you who know me, know I love nature. And a big part of nature is my love for animals. I'm all for compassion and goodness. I can't put the idea of the violence and cruelty that accompanies killing out of my head and separate it from an act of just indulging in something for the sake of pleasure.  Anyways, I know almost all of you will hate me for bringing this topic up and doing the goody-goody two shoes act, but then again, I am definitely not ashamed of believing in goodness.

I came across some inspiring thoughts and while most of you will tune out and stop reading, I hope it also makes you think. I'm not going to shy away from a topic that's usually brushed away. The idea itself is not closing your own eyes to certain flaws in a general mindset of humankind. I have an idea about the act of altruism and sacrificing material pleasures being somewhat "good" karma. I can go into the topic evolutionary speaking, but I think I'm going to save you that headache also.

A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral. ~Leo Tolstoy

There slowly grew up in me an unshakable conviction that we have no right to inflict suffering and death on another living creature, unless there is some unavoidable necessity for it. ~ Albert Schweitzer, M.D., Alsatian philosopher and medical missionary, 1952 Nobel prize recipient, (1875-1965)

In fact, if one person is unkind to an animal it is considered to be cruelty, but where a lot of people are unkind to animals, especially in the name of commerce, the cruelty is condoned and, once large sums of money are at stake, will be defended to the last by otherwise intelligent people. ~Ruth Harrison, author

Poor animals! How jealously they guard their pathetic bodies . . . that which to us is merely an evening's meal, but to them is life itself. ~T. Casey Brennan

Life is life--whether in a cat, or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man's own advantage.~Sri Aurobindo

Flesh eating is unprovoked murder. ~Ben Franklin