We have heard that you have been in lockdown in recent months because of some invisible enemy called coronavirus. It must be very hard for you to stay at home all the time. We want to tell you that we know how you feel. We tried to tell you this before, but you didn’t listen. Now you may have a little more time to read our letter, and now you may understand us better because you, too, have restrictions on your freedom.
‘Vegans say they love animals. So why do they eat all their food?’ You may have heard this popular joke about vegans before. There is no need to argue against jokes, even though Freud would agree that those who joke feel something deeper against the people they make fun of. However, it is often the case that this topic is brought up by omnivores: why is it okay for vegans to eat plants but not animals?
You know the famous story of The Little Prince a golden-haired boy who lived alone on the planet B612, caring for one sheep and one rose. It never occurred to him to bake his sheep and eat her for lunch. “Little Prince, why don’t you eat a sheep? The meat is healthy, and the mutton is delicious. Where do your proteins come from?” someone from the Planet of Carnivores asked him.
If someone tells you that you are as smart as chicken, thank that person for giving you such a compliment, because chickens are proven to be highly intelligent animals. Chickens are surprisingly clever and understand a lot about what’s happening in the world around them. Thanks to their cognitive and emotional abilities, they can be measured well against young children, primates or ravens.
The most important thing you can do to help animals is not to eat meat or, better yet, any animal products. It is essential for parents to be honest with their children and to tell them how burgers and salami are made. It is often the case that teenagers resent their parents for not telling them the truth about the origin of their food but have had to find out, unpleasantly, themselves.
This proclamation by the pigs who control the government in the novel Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is a comment on the hypocrisy of governments that indicate the absolute equality of their citizens but give power and privileges to a small elite.
We usually hear animal rights activists speak on behalf of animals because animals cannot speak human languages, BUT … For the first time in history, animals themselves are fighting for their rights in a human court. In the story, The Turtle Who Fights For Animal Rights, animals come up with firm arguments and very respectable witnesses to support them such as Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Leo Tolstoy, Franz Kafka, and George Bernard Shaw (to name a few).
Vegan Fest is the largest vegan fair in Austria, where I had the opportunity to present my vegan books for children. I enjoyed talking to many inspiring people from the vegan community and one of them was Mr. Hubert Gassner, whose story is fantastic. He is a former conventional animal farmer who has become vegan. I would like to share with you his incredible story that shows how real change is possible.
One of the tricky questions about zoos is whether they are good for animals, mainly because like prisons, not all zoos are alike. There are prisons where inmates have their own toilet, shower, TV, and even a yard. Some giraffes have two or three rooms, a lounge, a garden, and a dining room. Giraffes in their zoo apartments might appear to have a lot of space, but they would rather replace it for a slice of freedom.
Adults usually give children lessons on how to be kind and how to treat living creatures. It is expected of adults to be wiser and set an example for children by their own behavior. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Animal cruelty laws rule the adult world, so sometimes children are there to teach them true values instead. In the story ‘The Doctor Donkey’, the child teaches the adults how to treat animals kindly.
We don’t need to make up fictional vegan superheroes when we have plenty of animals that show us how it is possible to be super healthy, extremely strong and amazingly fast just by eating plant-based food.
I’m afraid it won’t help much if we just give kids a lecture on nutrition. I think that young children can learn more from a monkey or an elephant in a story than from an adult telling them to ‘eat your veggies!’ ☺
Three reasons why people choose to become vegan are empathy for animals, care for their own health, and care for the environment. Veganism is a combination of noble emotions, responsibility, and common sense. Here are 10 facts that might make people think seriously about switching to a vegan diet: