Happy Easter?

 Hello! I would like to preface this post by saying I care about you and am glad you’re here. Whether or not we’ve ever met, I know you and I have a LOVE OF NATURE in common, and we are kindred spirits in that way. I’m grateful for you!  Thank you for being here and for sharing my journey. Thank you for making time in your busy life to read my posts. Thank you for caring, and for sharing, and for your willingness to grow, and change, whether that means starting a garden, putting up a bat box, or leaving your leaves for the fireflies, frogs, and moths. We are all here on this Earth together, put here without a road map or instruction manual, learning as we go. That said, I’m aware this post may offend some. In my mind, it can’t be helped, for I must stay true to myself and my values instead of hiding in the dark and remaining silent to keep the peace. My mission in life is to educate people everywhere about the connections we share with each other and the natural world, and of the consequences we all face when the health of the planet is in jeopardy.  Three Easters ago I was just like you, celebrating the day with family and a big meal, probably ham.

Please understand, I write this post out of a deep rooted love for nature, and for ALL the animals who share this planet with us, including those I spent my previous 50 years eating…

The old Sharon would have never dreamed of writing this post but the new Sharon says, FCK IT!!  I WILL tell it like it is because if not me, then who? If not now, then when? I’m simply stating it like I see it, hoping you’ll consider a different way.

Of course I want you to have a happy Easter and a happy day surrounded by loved ones. I just wish it didn’t require a big meal centered around a dead animal–meat, as people call it. I can’t in good conscience say the words Happy Easter. I wish more than anything it were different. But the way millions of people around the globe will celebrate this holiday makes me sick, horrified, heartbroken, sad, and honestly, ashamed to be human. I’ve stopped getting together with family for the holidays for this reason.

For most people, celebrating this– and most holidays-– requires sitting around the dinner table surrounded by friends and family while at the same time feasting happily on animal flesh, including from baby lambs killed before they are even a year old, along with a plethora of dishes made from cow’s milk, never once stopping to consider those animals and the cruelty inflicted before they wound up on your plate.

My life revolves around nature.  Nature is what makes me whole and brings me joy. I could not live without nature in the same way I could not live without food. This site is called Nature For My Soul because nature is my home, my church, my happy place. I strive to share what I’ve learned with others, to open their eyes and make them aware of the consequences of their actions. The very idea of this post will offend and confuse some people because they won’t see how eating animals is connected to loving nature. But of course it is! Our obsession for eating animal flesh and drinking milk, or using it in products, is destroying our Planet! If I say I’m an animal lover, I need to love ALL animals!

Should our kindness really be so selective? Don’t you see how messed up that is? Love a dog, but kill a pig? Love a cat, but support taking baby cows from their Mothers so humans can steal her milk? Is it okay because you didn’t personally slaughter the animals?

I’m sorry if this makes you mad. I’m not responsible for your emotional reaction to my stating facts, to truth.  I wish someone had said these things to me, this bluntly, years ago. Everyone likes to hate the vegans, blaming us for being difficult, and calling us extreme.

Ever stop to wonder why people speaking out against cruelty to animals causes such anger?

Maybe it’s not the vegans people should hate but society itself for brainwashing us into thinking we must eat animals, we must drink milk, that there is no cruelty– they’re treated humanely! Or that we must go along with the crowd, after all,  it’s our heritage, our tradition!. But “shhhhhh, ignorance is bliss,” we all say, “I don’t want to change! It’s the food web! It’s the way we’ve always done it! It’s my right! It’s natural!. But I love cheese, bacon, steak….”

I spent half my life brainwashed, happily unaware, in blind denial to the horrors because it was way more convenient than facing facts and making changes. The thing I’m most proud of in my life is becoming vegan.

Easter and all holidays supposedly symbolize joy, peace and love. So why does celebrating them involve the imprisonment, torture, and then slaughter of innocent animals? Doesn’t anyone see how backwards this is? How little sense this makes? That in order to celebrate Easter properly we need to feast on animal flesh? But of course we don’t use those words! Instead, we hide what it really is with neutral words that shield us from the horror of slaughter– we call it ham, roasted leg of lamb, pork tenderloin, or pot roast. No matter the words, they’re all just babies, their lives stolen from them for a 15 minute meal. Here’s a page called Bake it With Love, featuring 38 recipes, many involving dead animals. Bake it with love? What a terrible, and very backward thing to say!! These animals never knew anything but cruelty. They were never allowed to feel joy or love. 

Do you really think Jesus would have approved of the way we modern humans exploit and slaughter millions of animals every year so we can “celebrate” Easter? Isn’t this modern day slavery?” 

If the center of your day isn’t a dead animal on your table, I salute you.  Happy Easter!

If the center of your day IS a dead animal or animals, I sincerely hope you consider what I’ve said, and the cruelty you’re supporting. It’s never too late to change and it’s never too late to do the right thing. 

Part of being human means evolving, learning, changing. It means being open to seeing things differently.  I ate animal flesh, eggs, and milk-containing-products for 50 years of my life! I certainly can relate to a reluctance of adopting a new way of being in this world. Little changes matter. 

I hope you and your loved ones have a lovely and peaceful day. Thank you for being here and especially, thank you for reading to the end. I appreciate you!

You give me hope. 

Joyous Me.