I'll have her come on up here and she's going to do a nice little talk for us.
I think she's ready. And, yeah.
So, we'll put our hands together and get Emily on up here - thank you.
There are times as an activist that demand careful preparation, clearly sourced and cited
facts, and a composed, balanced delivery.
And I had those at the ready… But this was not one of those times.
Hi, my name is Emily. Can you guys hear me? Okay, cool.
I’ve prepared a little bit because I wanted to have something somewhat coherent to share
with you guys, so um…
When polished words ring false and formalities fail, just speak.
… our collective conception of and eager willingness to buy into this global state
of self-deception.
It’s a deception that’s powerful enough to manipulate us into committing – you know
what, you guys this is far too formal for right now, I’m just going to talk to you.
It’s very educational and it’s very elegantly written, but it’s just not appropriate right
now because today isn’t about that, you know.
I typically write and I script my videos and they’re very academic and they’re eloquently
stated by the time I get behind the camera. And I write these things out and I think about
them forever and I cite them. But today’s not about that, you know, we don’t need
a blog post and citations today.
Today is about the animals and about their experiences in their lives. And it doesn’t
take scholarship, it doesn’t take a high level of intelligence, it doesn’t take research,
and it doesn’t take anything but just opening your eyes and just looking at them. You don’t
need to have any kind of proof. You don’t need to have any kind of backing or schooling,
or something to show to someone, or degree, you don’t have to be a medical doctor, you
don’t have to have any of that, you just need to be a human being and to look at them.
These are living, sentient creatures. They’re just like you and me, they hurt, they feel,
they have experiences all of their own. And it doesn’t take much to see that. And, again,
this thing that I crafted, is really smart sounding. It does talk about the fact that
we, as a society, we work so hard to convince ourselves that there is this way for us to
love animals and to eat them – to be these animal lovers part-time, in a way. We’re
going to love the cats, we’re going to love the dogs, and then we’re going to forget
about the chickens, and forget about the pigs, and forget about the cows.
And it’s painful and it’s difficult to be the ones who decide and choose to acknowledge
them. It’s not an easy thing to do and I have vegans ask me all the time, and because
you guys are here I’m assuming most of you are probably in the vegan way. They ask me,
why is it that people are so resistant to this truth that’s so evident to us? Once
your eyes are opened it’s almost impossible to understand how we didn’t see this before.
How could you possibly look at what’s happening here and find this to be acceptable? And I
think, to me, it means because – to look at these beings and to connect with them,
it means that we have to look at ourselves and realize what we’ve been a part of up
until this point in our lives that we go vegan.
You know, that up until that point we’ve been the perpetrators, we’ve been the tormentors,
we have been the monsters that we try to protect our children from. And that’s a really hard
realization to make, so instead what happens is people talk about protein and they talk
about lions and they talk about all of these things, because to not talk about those things
means that we have to confront the truth about what we’ve been a part of.
And of course, going vegan I would like to say that it makes life beautiful and easy,
and it does bring so much beauty into your life to know that you’re no longer participating
in this, you’re no longer the monster that someone has to fear, but it’s a double edged
sword because also we now have this awareness. And it’s incredibly - it’s a huge honor
and it’s a huge burden, to be this aware. And as vegans, we can still be very tempted
to hide ourselves from this reality and to say, okay I’m not eating the animals anymore
and that’s enough. I don’t need to look at it, I don’t need to go through the heartbreak
of seeing what they’re going through because I already know and I’m not a part of it
so it’s okay.
But it’s so important for us to stay connected to them, and to acknowledge them, because
it’s still happening for them even if we’re not a part of it. And god knows that no one
else is going to come and bear witness to them except for those of us who know what
is happening. So, I guess in the most ineloquent way that I came around about to this, I just
want to thank all of you for being here and for doing that and for just – for making
that connection and for furthering the depth of your own commitment to these beings because
it’s one thing to refuse to participate in the violence and it’s another thing to
challenge yourself to stay connected to that – to the very horrors that you, yourself
are not even contributing to.
The entire world should be here bearing witness to them. Especially those individuals who
are still a part of that. But, obviously they’re not going to be here and that’s where we
come in. We come in to give these beings some recognition – a moment’s recognition of
validation. And it might be the only validation they ever get. It might be the only human
kindness they’re ever shown in their all-to-short lives.
Because these are all babies. The way that we raise our animals, these are babies. And
so we’re here to give them one moment’s notice, and that’s a beautiful thing.
So, thank you.
So if you ever falter—if you’re uncertain what to say. Just look in their eyes and speak.
Speak as if it were your last day.
Learn more about Toronto Pig Save and holding vigil and hear more vegan speeches in the
videos linked here and in the description. Like and share this video to inspire others
to speak up and subscribe for more vegan inspiration every Monday, Wednesday and some Fridays.
To help support Bite Size Vegan’s educational efforts, please see the support links below
or click on the Nugget Army icon or the link in the sidebar. Now go live vegan, find your
voice, and I’ll see you soon.