In My Mind’s Zen Garden

[ studying the wisdom of these spiritual beings]

“Our task must be to widen our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
—-Albert Einstein

. . . .

I love animals, although I don’t really own a dog or a cat. I had a chow chow once, and he lived well into his old age. But, he suffered from problems with his hind legs, then he got cancer and we had to put him to sleep.

It was one of the hardest things my family had to endure. Our dog “Einstein” was definitely a part of our family. When he died we were greatly saddened. And I haven’t owned a pet dog since then.

But in becoming a vegan and being concerned for animal rights, I do feel it’s the next step in widening “our circle of compassion” as Albert Einsten put it. It’s sort of meaningful that I stumbled upon this quote by him, and my pet dog’s name was “Einstein”.

I’ve always liked farm animals, and loved petting the little baby chicks at the Children’s Zoo. And I went on a field trip in elementary school to a farm and we petted the little pigs and calfs. But now knowing they would just be killed for food later always made me think… why some animals are separated as pets, while others as food for human consumption?

I’ve been in the process of re-conditioning my mind these past few years as to what is right to eat, and what is not… on an ethical level as well as a health-minded one. It is an ongoing process, to get rid of old habits and acquiring new ones… to survive, and letting other living creatures survive as well.