Feeling Sick on Mother’s Day

I met some friends at Your Local Market for their free pancake breakfast today. Mother’s Day. I think it’s a good time to celebrate life and mothers of all beings as well as our Mother Earth. When I asked about the ingredients a few weeks ago, the chef encouraged me to read the label on the package. I was excited to see the ingredients were earth friendly and compassionate.

But today, when I bought groceries on the way out, the cashier mentioned how good the pancakes were since the chef adds dairy products to the mix. I’d been eating dairy without knowing it. I feel sick. And to think this happened on Mother’s Day.  Reading labels isn’t always enough when someone else is preparing your meals. It was especially timely since I hosted a screening of the new DVD called Vegucated last night. It shows a cow giving birth. Some of us know and many don’t know, that after the mother cow gives birth to her calf, it’s taken away within 48 hours so humans can have the milk. The mother cow mourns and bellows trying to take care her newborn that’s now in a cage in a separate building. I know this first hand as I was raised on a dairy farm.

I’ve been vegan for exactly two years today. It was watching Peaceable Kingdom that inspired me to go from Vegetarian to Vegan on May 13, 2010.

I encourage you to ask more questions about where your food comes from and what it takes to get it on your plate. I believe people are naturally caring. If you knew a baby was taken away from it’s mother so you could have the milk, would you make a different choice like soy milk, almond milk, rice milk or hemp milk?

As Albert Einstein remarked decades ago, it’s time we widen our circle of compassion to all living beings.