The Glass is Half Full

Hello again! So sorry for the absence, but now this blog is back in business.

Last night, I went to see Gene Baur speak at a local college. If you are not familiar with him, Mr. Baur is the founder and president of Farm Sanctuary, an organization that rescues injured and abused animals from factory farms and allows them to live a peaceful, natural life in the rolling hills of Watkins Glen, New York. The group also does a ton of policy and legal work for the rights of animals.

Listening to Mr. Baur speak confirmed so much of what I've learned over the past two years about compassionate eating and the power we have every time we pick up our forks and dig in to eat. We have to power to choose foods that will not only make us healthier but will also save the lives of millions of living beings that currently live in squalid, heinous conditions. Gene Baur has devoted much of his adult life to documenting factory farm conditions and trying to change policy. He shared photos and experiences he has had, much of it painful to look at and overwhelming to comprehend. As my eyes were tearing up, I listened to this man speak with such equanimity and I thought, how does he find the strength to continue fighting for this cause he believes in when the odds for change are so overwhelming? 


So, I asked him just that question. "How do you not become completely overwhelmed when you can only make small changes while the problem is so huge and systemic?" And of course his answer made complete sense to me, as I often try to see the glass half full rather than empty. Mr. Baur, the optimist, said, "You have to focus on the positive changes." He went on to tell us that he knows he is making a difference when he looks into the eyes of an animal at Farm Sanctuary that he saved from a certain and unnecessary death and sees that creature living a peaceful and natural life. He said that when things seem so overwhelming, you have to focus on the victories and the progress that you have made. This is so valid, both in his struggle as well as all of our own.

I am so incredibly happy that I went to hear Gene Baur's lecture last night and I highly recommend that you check out the Farm Sanctuary website (listed in my blog list) to read more about the group's work. I want to take the lessons from last night and apply them to this blog. Sure I may include an uncomfortable fact or article from time to time on here, but I want to focus on all the positive things that come with being vegan. After last night, my commitment toward living a vegan lifestyle has been renewed and positively strengthened and I am going to sit down and start reading Baur's book right now!