03.16.07
Is a Vegan World Possible? Heck Yeah!
Leafletting at Compassion Over Killing’s Vegetarian Feed-In in DC
Matt Ball, the Executive Director of Vegan Outreach wrote an excellent article titled One Possible Future: A Roadmap to Animal Liberation. It helps us readers envision how a vegan world will come about, despite the dispiriting reality that “uncle Dick hunts” and “cousin Jeb is always mocking me for being vegan.”
Matt’s article reviews the gains the vegan movement has made and how our patient and persistent efforts continue to bear good fruit. It also help us visualize how we are going to create a vegan world. By doing this, Matt gives hope to all of us who struggle for a day when animals are treated with dignity and justice.
Hope is vital to inspiring our continued action. Too many people who see the injustices in the world, refuse to get involved because they feel their actions won’t make a difference. But social justice is like a football game: we are either gaining ground or losing it. And if our side sits on the sidelines, we will lose for sure; and lose badly. We must get in the game and do our best. (Did I really just try to use a sports metaphor!?)
Besides hope, another powerful force of inspiration is faith. I am always strengthened when I remember Gandhi’s words, “He who has God on his side, has all.” Or when I sing to myself the old negro spiritual frequently sung during the hight of Martin Luther King, Jr’s civil rights efforts:
We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome someday.
Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome someday.
Keep hope alive! Keep faith alive! With patience and persistent action, truly, we shall overcome!
This text was written in 2007 by Freeman Wicklund of FreemanWicklund.org, and it may be freely reprinted or distributed in any e-zine, e-mail, newsletter or blog as long as this sentence and Web link are included.