VEGAN THOUGHTS
by Frederick A. Macdonald
March 20, 1917
When we eat any kind of meat, we must face what the herders have done to those animals before we begin to feel compassion for them.
One sure way to have a change of heart about the plight of any of the so-called “food” animals, is to watch some of the many documentary films available on YouTube.
One such film is “Earthlings” written and directed by Shaun Monson.I’m going to watch that one again right now.
More later.
March 21, 2017
Just as I thought might someday happen, my new love, Julie, has come to believe in the true power of plant food. Since it is the source of all the protein in the world, why wouldn’t everyone eventually come to this conclusion?
Well, first, people will have to summon up the courage to stop believing the hype spewed by those in power about the so-called health benefits of eating animal products and dairy foods.
The only ones that are benefiting are the food industries that profit from the misery and suffering of the uninformed masses that still choose to believe their claims of offering them healthy food.
The food and health care industries, who have long been working together, make the most money when they can keep the bulk of the population overweight and sick.This is easily made possible by the masses believing in the food industry’s claims of what is necessary for their optimum health:meat, poultry, fish, and dairy.
What if that’s a total lie? And, what if the health care system and the meat and dairy industries both know the opposite of what they claim is true? I wonder who could hold their feet to the fire long enough to get them to spew some truth for a change?
March 25, 2017
The revulsion I feel for the people who mistreat animals has risen sharply in recent weeks. As I become increasingly aware of how cruel and malicious their dirty deeds are, I can only react with disgust at how long it’s continued.
I want to do something to bring about a change in the animals’ miserable situation. I struggle with finding something worthwhile to say that willhelp the animals and send a clear signal to those in power that our future is dependent on our stopping this carnage.
We must find a way to show people how bytheir purchasing and eating animal products, they are fostering animal imprisonment, torture, and death.
This isn’t something that one normally will be pondering, since we have all been programmed since early childhood to bury thoughts of the animal’s suffering deeply in our subconscious minds.
People certainly do not have the intention of bringing harm to a fellow helpless creature when they sit down to their meals every day, but unfortunately, that is what they are all taking part in doing, as they continue to eat the meat of the slaughtered animals.
The lies that have been spread across the land by the meat and dairy industries about the necessity of eating meat and drinking milk for our very survival have unfortunately been believed by the vast majority of people who haven’t heard any counter claims.
The easiest and fastest way to bring about a change in people’s thinking would be for them to first realize they can indeed survive quite nicely on a plant-based diet.
The fear of not getting enough protein to sustain themselves without eating animal products is the most often heard concern of people who are reluctant to give up their meat eating.
I can tell you from personal experience that that is far from the truth. I’m 73 years old and have been a Vegan for almost seven years.The energy level I have now sustains me in any physical endeavor including athletics. It’s proof to me I’m onto something quite miraculous with my plant-based diet.
Before I went completely Vegan, I had already given up eating my fellow land dwellers for over 35 years. I was existing for all those years mainly on fruits and vegetables. I was still eating animal products, but only those that came from the sea.
It was after reading “THE CHINA STUDY,” by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, I decided to become a Vegan.I was diagnosed with, and had surgery to remove,three malignant melanomas. I was looking for ways to keep myself from growing any more skin cancers, and to keep my ass on the planet.The unexpected, darkly looming cancer, set off alarms in my mind. THE CHINA STUDY helped me to negate my fear and it surfaced in my life at the time where I would be fully open to its message.
Doctor Campbell’s many studies concluded that animal protein provides a fertile environment in our bodies for the growth of cancer cells. He also stressed the fact that plant protein does not promote the growth of cancer.
There were many other compelling reasons cited in the book for making the move to a plant-based lifestyle, but since my focus was on staying cancer-free, it was an easy transition for me to make.
I am very happy to report that I have been out of the woods, as far as any new cancers are concerned, for all the years that I have been a plant-based only consumer.
Although I made the change toVegan for health reasons, I have since that time been exposed to many of the atrocities perpetrated against the helpless animals slaughtered for food. It made me feel anguish for their plight, even though I haven’t taken part in their destruction for many years.
I can only imagine how hard it would be for someone who is still eating animals to watch some of the disturbing YouTube videos on animal cruelty I have recently viewed. Thank God I was already a Vegan before I saw how horrible animals are treated before they are killed. I’m also very happy I don’t have any stake in the process that profits those who are responsible for the animals’ torment because I no longer contribute money to the business of animal agriculture and slaughter.
Can you foresee what would happen if there was no one buying the meat, poultry, fish, dairy, honey, and eggs?Itwould putan end to the market for them and lead to the end of their slaughter.
When we were first being fed as babies, we were introduced to various forms of animal foods by well-intentioned parents, who were only doing what they thought was best for their children.
April 19, 2017
Sadly, this kind of indoctrination is still being carried out by most of our population, since only a small percentage of us have made the change to a plant-based diet.
Thinking about this gives rise to something that should be strongly considered. And that is, what if there were repercussions for YOU. What if feeding your babies totally unhealthy animal foods, whether well intentioned or not, could be a reason for criminal charges?
Listen to this:
The information is out there. The Information Era, that we’ve been in for many years now, has spawned countless search engines that provide the users with the answer to any question about anything they can come up with.
Google it! That’s the first thing we think about or say when in need of a fast answer. That’s how easy it is to learn about anything and everything. But that also shows that there isn’t any excuse for not knowing about the dangers of eating animal foods.
Before they are finally killed, all food animals are tortured and horribly abused. The bad karma, (the fear and horror the murdered creature experienced), that enters the mind of the animals, is then in their flesh. This we then eat, and feed to our children.
As a spiritual person, you can understand the cause and effect relationship of such actions. What we sow, we will reap. When we cause suffering on helpless creatures, we will bear the consequences.
These things I’ve been saying to you with the “WE” in the sentences has been intentional. Whenever we make a purchase of any animal product, we are taking part in their misery, because that money we spend goes into the profit margins of the companies that foster the animal cruelty.
The thing is, we all know this. And, we all know what it takes to get that piece of steak or chicken into that wrapped package we buy. It might be buried deep in our subconscious, but it’s there.
We have been taught, and have learned over time, to put any such thoughts of compassion for the animals we eat, far out of our conscious minds. It is only through the veiling of our true feelings, the feelings we were born with which have been processed out of us and made us insensitive to the animals’ plight, that enables us to sit down to our daily meals.
When we desensitize ourselves as to the cruelty the animals endure, it is much easier to be insensitive towards each other.
The psychological problems we suffer from are tied to the karma of our horrible treatment of animals. What we do to the animals, we do to ourselves.
Below is from the book “WORLD PEACE DIET” written by Will Tuttle, Ph.D:
“We terrorize millions of vulnerable and defenseless animals daily with painful shockings, beatings, brandings, debeakings, dehornings, castrations, ear notchings, nose bashings, and by forcing them to watch the killing of other animals before they are killed.
“As we terrorize, so we increasingly fear the shadow of terrorism.
We steal from and deceive animals on a massive scale; we steal their babies, their bodies, their milk, their eggs, their honey, and their lives, and we deceive them with baited hooks, lures, nets, and slaughterhouse tunnels.
“We find that we live in a society increasingly rife with deception and theft, where predatory capitalism and sophisticated advertising work together to create a climate that legitimizes deceit in the name of profit, and fraudulent cunning in the name of return on investment.”
–End of the Dr. Will Tuttle’s excerpt.
More disturbing, is the fact that in order to get the most possible profit for their investment, factory farms are pushing the envelope when it comes to growing the animals faster and faster.
They are shooting the animals up with steroids and antibiotics, so not only does their meat have bad karma, it also has been injected with unhealthy-to-eat ingredients.
Taking part in feeding this kind of food to our children, while knowing it could be very detrimental to their health, is bordering on intentional child abuse.
I can foresee future lawsuits brought against parents by their then very unhealthy children.
There is a vast amount of information on YouTube about the abuse and torture of the animals we eat. You need only to put in their search engine: DR. WILL TUTTLE WORLD PEACE DIET AUSTRALIA.
I have watched many of Dr. Tuttle’s presentations, and I believe the Australia one will move you the most. At the end of his talk, and the audience’s questions part, Will, an accomplished pianist, plays some of his own music.
You may also type in the word “Vegan” in the YouTube search bar to see the many videos about the benefits of a plant-based diet. Since most of those who are reluctant to give up eating meat are afraid of the muscle they will supposedly lose without it, you will be pleasantly surprised to learn about how much protein you can get from plants, and how many people out there are thriving without eating any animals.
One of the most revealing instances of the power of a plant-based diet is shown in the book “EAT and RUN” written by Scott Jurek.
Scott is an ultra-marathoner who came into his own after becoming a Vegan. The book is filled with Scott’s own recipes, some of which he consumes during his 100 and more mile runs.
April 11, 2017
I am going to need a hook to bring others into the mindset I now have about the horrible treatment of so-called food animals. The compassion I have for the animals’ overall well-being is getting much stronger as time passes.
Unfortunately, none of the people I talk to about this are even willing to consider making a change in their eating habits for the sake of those animals that are so harshly treated.
The bullshit the food industry has been slinging at people, since they were first able to comprehend it, has been bought hook, line, and sinker by everyone who still believes they are being told the truth.
This BS has been engrained in everyone’s mind for so many years, that any theory countering those claims, has a lot of trouble being believed.What they don’t realize is how much healthier they would be if they stop eating animals.
April 21, 2017
If you want to think that the change from eating meat to eating plants is going to be hard, think about how hard it will be to find a suitable place to breathe when there is no more suitable air.
You owe it to yourself to look at the videos and to read all of the latest information about why it is so important to move away from the eating of animals and to develop a plant-based diet.
The reasons for going plant-based are much more far-reaching and complicated than you might at first imagine, until you are exposed to the overwhelming evidence that if mankind continues to eat animal products, and this practice is on the rise in developing countries, we are on a course where our very survival as a species is threatened.
Thousands of years ago mankind adopted what is referred to as the “Herding Culture.” This is when we first decided to keep and raise food animals in captivity, rather than to keep hunting for them.
This culture is still with us today in all its many ghastly forms.
The huge factory farms, that now supply us with most of the animal products we are eating, have taken this simple thought of captivating animals to its most extreme; they have made the animals lifetime prisoners. These are animal prisoners that they routinely torture and mutilate for the entire time they are within their “care.” Then, when the animal’s usefulness to the factory farm is reached, they are horribly murdered.
If you dare, watch some of the hidden camera footage of these kind of “farms” that has been shot by the brave people who want to see this carnage stopped.
June 5, 2017
The cost of feeding and “caring” for the animals that eventually will be slaughtered is so steep that factory farms want them to come to maturity and be as fat as possible when they get there, so they feed them steroids and growth enhancers to make that happen.
June 28, 2017
I was just listening to the Pink Floyd song, Comfortably Numb, when it occurred to me that that is an excellent descriptor for how people have put their thoughts about the cruelty inflicted on the animals they eat far away from their everyday thinking. They have become comfortably numb to such thoughts.
People must be shown how they are part of the problem until they stop funding the cruelty through their purchases of animal products. Animal cruelty, resulting from animal agriculture, will only end when money stops going to its perpetrators.Only then will it stop.
July 7, 2017
When everything else we try fails to make people notice what they are doing to themselves and the planet by continuing to eat animal products, we will have to resort to finding new ways to get the point across to them.
If a person is not willing to stop eating animals because they believe doing so is necessary for their own survival, we must keep showing them the far more healthier people who are sustaining quite nicely on a plant-based diet.
The overall greater health benefits of a plant-based diet is an issue that will have to be conveyed to people over and over for quite a while before it will make a positive impact against the falsehoods people have been hearing from the animal products industries since they were born.
Most assuredly, the proper time to indoctrinate people into these real truths about Veganism, is before they are brainwashed by all the lies that are being spread by those industries who are merely interested in profiting from the consumption of their animal products.
That time by necessity will have to be when the consumer-to-be is still quite young.
So how do we reach the child of the uninformed, well-meaning parents, who is just beginning to be fed animal products, along with all the meat industries’ false hype that the child will be hearing from them as they try to defend their unhealthy position?
July 21, 2017
I bring up the following story to show how I have seen in my experience; the overwhelming pressure people put on you when you suggestanything that goes against their inherent beliefs.
Over 40 years ago, when my daughter Jada was very young, I was in the beginning stages of exploring the benefits of being a vegetarian.
I had read some enlightening stories about dedicated parents who had only their child’s optimum health in mind when they chose to focus on doing the best they could for them.
It was around this time that I put forth my idea to raise our daughter on a vegetarian diet.
The outcry that that simple statement fostered among my parents and in-laws, caught me totally by surprise.
I thought my idea would be met with some back and forth conversation on the possible health benefits of such a move, but what I encountered instead was their complete refusal to even discuss the topic.
I was being depicted by them as some sort of far out crazy person to even be talking about something so outlandish as keeping my own daughter from the “benefits” of what they saw as a much-needed animal foods based “healthy” diet.
Sadly, I caved before their enormous pressure to forget what was seen by them as such an outlandish idea. I never got to see if it would have made a positive impact on my daughter’s overall health.
Many years later, I heard about how some well-known celebrities, (I can’t remember who they were right now), had raised their child on a vegetarian diet, and how well adjusted and happy the child was, and how well they did in school.
I took some solace in relating that story to the people who had not given me even a token discussion about my vegetarian idea, but it wasn’t something I could take much comfort in.
I will never know for sure if my daughter’s overall health would have been better served had she had the benefits of a plant-based
When these liars say there is no truth to the claims of virtually every environmental scientist, who believe that global warming is the most important problem the world faces, and something we must deal with immediately to avoid a catastrophic end. I can only imagine how her life could have turned out much better for her if she were given the chance.
July 23, 2017
There has never been a more perfect time to begin fighting against the falsehoods that have been spread about “healthy” animal food consumption than right now.
Because of the current administration’s outrageous disregard for conveying anything truthful, when lying always seems to them to be the better choice, we now have that wrinkle in their fabric, which is becoming more and more clear to anyone who is listening to their psychobabble, making a complete joke out of anything they say.
People who actually care about the earth’s future will begin to wonder why the Trump administration has such a stake in lying about climate change.
There is a huge difference between how much farmland is needed to provide the food and water necessary for feeding enough cattle to feed a meat-eating nation for one year versus how much land is required to provide nourishment to the same number of people on a plant-based diet.
This useless waste of arable land is one of the main reasons why our species only have a chance of survival once we get our collective hearts and minds around being a plant-basednation.
Continuing to eat animal food will guarantee a world of far less resources for an ever-growing population and can only lead to our own destruction.
August 17, 2017
There is a simple plan available to each of us Vegans to end the problem of how we will be able to reach the people who are interested in a plant-based lifestyle, yet are hesitant to leave meat eating, because they consider it a necessary ingredient in their diet for maintaining their health and vitality.
That plan is to first educate them with the proven facts about how well they will sustain optimum health on a plant-based diet that’s free of all animal foods. Next is to show them that when they eat animal foods, it robs them of feelings of love, peace, and compassion.
Their true nature of being compassionate towards every other creature on the planet has such enormous power, that they will immediately recognize it when it returns to them. Once they experience the feelings of kindness and mercy, they will want to keep extending compassion to the animals.
When people can feel good about their food choices, without having any of the underlying feelings of guilt about depriving animals of their lives, they will want to share their good fortune with others.This will lead to more and more people showing compassion to each other. Not a bad reward to reap just for making a simple change in one’s dietary choices.
It will become increasingly easier for people to get off and stay off of their animal eating habits when they can see how much better they get along with everybody, when their compassion for others comes back to the forefront of their thinking.
This will be the source of much discussion. It will open the door to a new understanding of how we can all benefit when we are making peaceful eating choices.
The world can be at peace in our lifetimes. That will be heavenly.
August 17, 2017
In order to have a greater awareness of how easily we can attain a more peaceful and loving attitude toward others, we need only to look to the animals that inhabit our slaughterhouses.
These animals are in the worst possible situation of any other creatures on the planet. Their plight must be seen and heard by everyone who is eating animal foods, for it is those very people who are assuring that this horrible existence remains intact, through their purchasing of the slaughtered animals’ body parts.
It is impossible for any truly compassionate person to not be affected by the conditions that food animals must endure in order to keep us supplied with their meat products.
September 8, 2017
We need to open people’s minds to the horror that is the food animal’s reality. To accomplish this, we have to show and tell them about all the brutality these poor defenseless creatures endure before they are forced to first watch their fellow animals get murdered, and then be murdered themselves.
Imagine, if you can, what it must have been like for the prisoners in the German concentration camps of World War Two, to be watching their fellow inmates being led to the gas chambers, and then eventually being gassed themselves, and you can get an idea of what the millions and millions of food animals that are killed every day are being forced to undergo.
The real irony in all of this is, that the horror that we inflict on the animals, is something that also always returns to haunt our lives. The proverb, what we sow, we shall also reap, is never more evident than it is when we begin to experience the same atrocities happening to us that we have imposed on the animals.
September 11, 2017
Make no mistake about this; whatever actions we initiate in the world, whether it be good or evil, always come back to us in like terms, so it would be wise to always be doing good deeds if we want to have good things occurring in our lives.
There is much more that we need to reflect on concerning this subject, since we will get people’s attention easier about what they are really doing when they purchase the animal products, when we can show them how that simple deed actually means they are taking part in the animals’ killing, and that they will eventually be suffering the consequences of this action.
September 12, 2017
People are very comfortable with their eating of animal products when they can do so without ever consciously thinking about the suffering that goes on behind the scenes to provide them with that food, so we must wake them from their slumber by continually talking about what goes on to make that happen.
This will be hard for them to listen to, and they will want us to shut up, but we will have to persevere to make the kind of impact on them that will lift the cloud of silence they have unconsciously constructed to cover their actions.
Since they have been bombarded with so much miss-information from the food industries that keeps them from even contemplating another point of view about their eating habits, we will no doubt find some well-ingrained opposing opinions out there coming from the people we want to sway from their animal food choices.
This will be a tough hurdle for us to overcome, so we must never forget the good that will occur from our striving to re-educate them, and why this work is so vital for everyone’s survival.
September 18, 2017
I have become aware of a calling I now have to spread the message of the many health and spiritual benefits of a plant-based lifestyle.
I’m being urged to expand on the lessons I am learning in my quest to find out all that I can about Veganism.
By talking with anyone who will take the time to listen to what I have so far learned, I am keeping my thinking on the subject in the forefront of my mind, and that is also allowing me to get feedback from people who are willing to discuss it with me.
In this way I can see how I can get them, and then keep them, interested enough to start their own investigation into the lifestyle.
Everybody wins.
October 3, 2017
While at the Topsfield Fair recently, I was in one of the cattle buildings. I observed most of the cows were close to the sides of their pens. I started petting one of the cows and felt a strange feeling of warmth and peace come over me.
I was petting this docile creature as if she were a dog or cat. Since I never think of a cow as being a source of food, I felt the same way in her presence as I do when I’m in the company of a house pet; justa warm and friendly encounters, with no thoughts of ever bringing it harm.
I wonder how I can get this kind of feeling across to people who only envision a cow, whether they are aware of it or not, as an animal that is just a source of food for them? How can I change that thought process into one of compassion for these animals? What will make them want to stop the harmful treatment and killing they are taking part in by purchasing animal food products?
October 14, 2017
Tomorrow I will be in the company of some meat eaters as I am being thrown a 74th birthday party at my niece Kristen’s house.
She is very tolerant of my wishes to not indulge in any animal products myself, and she always provides suitable food for me, but there is going to be some meat being devoured by others, so I have to witness that, and it keeps getting more troublesome for me as I get my mind more around the mostly hidden from view facts that have to occur in order for the animal products to reach the dinner table.
I will swallow my feelings in front of my favorite niece, but I still am hoping for the day to arrive soon when we are all in the mindset together.
October 20, 2017
Kristen provided us with a luscious carrot cake. Everyone at the party thought it was delicious. I’ve noticed when people have the balls to try something, they are mostly very surprised at how good tasting it is.
These days there are so many varieties of great tasting food out there compared to say ten years ago, that making the jump now to a plant-based diet is far easier on the palate.
“Try it, you’ll like it” is a familiar phrase that is a lot truer now with all the various delicious selections available in today’s marketplace.
November 9, 2017
Today my beloved, Julie, found out the comforter we had on our bed was of the down-filled variety.
Her response, as she removed it from the bed, was she would not in any way feel comfortable lying under a lot of feathers probably taken from dead birds.
In my defense, I did not purchase the comforter. It was a Christmas gift from my niece, Kristen, given to me many years ago.
Unfortunately, it leaks a feather every now and then, and today when I pulled one from it that was sticking out, and showed it to Julie, the jig was up.
Sometimes I don’t make the connection, even when it’s right under my nose, but any product that involves the taking of an animal’s life, is not supposed to be on a true Vegan’s radar.I’m glad to have Julie’s keener senses helping me to stay accountable.
If, and when, our church’s board of trustees, of which I am a member, accepts our proposal to run a Vegan workshop, we will spread the word of the benefits of a plant-based diet. I hope we will get the opportunity, and with any luck, the congregation will show up to our program.
Julie has been showcasing many of her delicious culinary creations at our weekly potluck get togethers, which takes place after the Sunday morning church service. Since many members of the congregation have been treated to the great taste of her food, we are hopeful they will attend and be open-minded.
We’re hopeful that the tasteful meals Julie will offer, combined with the information we provide, will move them to adopt a plant-based diet.
May 9, 2020
Hello,
I hope you’re well and happy.
While recently watching the movie City Slickers,the character Curly subdues a cow that’s having trouble giving birth to her calf. I noticed he had his knee on her neck. The sight ofCurly’s knee on her neck, made me shudder. Itbrought into my mind the killer cop’s knee on George Floyd’s neck.It also made me think of something I have learned about our harsh treatment of animals: the harsh treatment eventually always comes back to us in the form of the same harshness by which we treat each other.
This concept intensified for me yesterday, as I saw the same image of a cowboy’s knee on another pasture animal’s neck on one of the news channels.
So, why am I getting these visuals?Well, there’s always my plant-based diet, which has a profound effect on how I view the world.
Especially on how I view people’s treatment of the animals they think they are supposed to eat to ensure they get enough protein.
Anyway, we don’t need to get into all that jazz, since all I really want to convey to you is what the universe is prodding me to explain.
As of today, May 9, 2020, I have now been a Vegan for ten years. I have also been witnessing other people’s treatment of so-called food animals for that same amount of time, and I can say with certainty that we are all now feeling the consequences of our species’ actions.
Here’s the point. If we were all Vegans, the coronavirus pandemic would never have happened.Think about that for a moment. If we never ate animals, let alone a bat, this invisible COVID-19 virus would likely never have found itself in some person’s mouth, and four-and-a-half million lives would not have been lost.
History has show usother instances of diseases being transmitted among the animals we eat on a regular basis. Remember Mad Cow Disease? Ebola? The Bird Flu? There are more infections and disease caused by humans “monkeying-around” with animals, but you get the point. We can’t beat this thing for good and continue to eat animals. We must stop eating animals and their products, or we will succumb to a host of maladies.
If you haven’t yet noticed, COVID-19 is eating us.
That’s it. That’s all I wanted to say. I hope I have given you a moment of pause.
Be well, Fred