Seeking a just and peaceful world for all beings
“Be intent on action, not the fruits of action.
Avoid attachment to the fruits and attraction to inaction!
Perform actions firm in discipline, relinquishing attachment.
Be impartial to failure and success;
This equanimity is called discipline.”
- Bhagavad Gita 11:47
Check out this great article about how a friendship with a dove brought a depressed and listless baby monkey back to life.
Albert Chicken-stein (not his real name, but his hair/feather-style is very reminiscent of the brainiac, don’t you think?). Chickens are as smart as primates. They have well-developed memories, an ability to learn, and a desire to not be eaten. This little clucker resides at Poplar Springs Animal Sanctauary.
The United Poultry Concerns President, Karen Davis, has her hackles up over people who continue to bad-mouth chickens. A recent article quoted a woman who justified eating chickens by saying they are the “least intelligent” of all farmed animals. Karen sets the record straight by showing the overwhelming evidence in support of chicken intelligence in a lucid editorial that The Buffalo News ran July 17, 2007. Read the rest of this entry »
Bless Mrs. B, the kitty who was taken to the shelter twice for simply talking too much. Meow!
Many of you were interested in my previous blessing of the animals blog. To follow up with that, I want to direct you to Elizabeth’s blog which has a detailed outline of the blessing of the animals service that was used at her church. Good stuff!
I especially like the Fyodor Dostoyevsky quote they read:
“Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.”
Our faiths must not forget that the spiritual values of mercy, personal responsibility, strength, love, and compassion also apply to our treatment of other-than-human beings. It is only appropriate for our faiths to reinforce this fact in their sermons. Yay! 
“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature”
- Anne Frank
This October, members of the American University Animal Rights Effort (AUARE) and I volunteered at the Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in Maryland. We mucked the horse barn, and the pig and horse pastures. We brushed down the horses and fed the pigs. And we spent time with the animals.
It is so soothing and peaceful to quietly observe the chickens and turkeys. Listening to their cooing and soft, gentle gurgling noises causes my stress to melt away. To watch them peck and scratch the earth is as calming as meditation, and it reveals them to be dignified and regal creatures in their own right. Read the rest of this entry »
Here is a picture I took in Falls Church, Virginia on Feb. 24
In honor of this beautiful winter snow that frosted the trees, here is a joke.
Question: What did the scarf say to the hat?
Answer: You go on a head; I’ll just hang around here.
This joke was told to me by Lori (a.k.a. Francesca) Geldner the last time I visited Minneapolis. Read the rest of this entry »
My boyfriend and I watched the glorious sun set from the shores of Kona, Hawaii last June. © Freeman Wicklund 2006 Read the rest of this entry »
