09/03/2017
Today's in NYC was epic. Thousands of animal lovers made their presence felt - filling streets, spilling over into the sidewalks, chanting in unison, "What do we want? Animal rights! When do we want it? NOW!" It was powerful and profound. When people show up in those kinds of numbers, for a cause as noble as being compassionate towards animals, it lets others know that this is a movement they need to be a part of too.
It was a long march. There was a point when I started getting a little tired; my feet began to hurt and I was thirsty. And it struck me that this minor discomfort was a minuscule fraction of what animals endure in farming and slaughterhouses. I thought of the scope and breadth of their suffering and pain; of the ways in which they're confined, degraded, used, transported, shoved, hit, bludgeoned. I can go and sit down, at any given time I can relieve - or try to relieve - my discomfort. I have autonomy over my actions. Animals are not even given the chance to try. They are fully stripped of their autonomy. They are forced to submit to the will of another. Just because the other decided it is so. What an injustice that is.
And that is all we animal rights activists are trying to do. We are trying to bring that injustice to an end. We are trying to restore animals' birthright to simply BE. No living being should be forced to the will of another. No living being deserves to be oppressed and deprived of their life.
