A Calendar of Powerful Words

“a humane world”  “do something”  “speak out”   “nobody need wait” 

“talk about it”   “join the fight”   “where responsibility lies”  “match words to deeds” 

“improve the world”  “make a difference”   “it is possible”   “our challenge”  

“evils of indifference”   “speak up”   “opposite of love”

I received a wonderful calendar from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the cover has those phrases above spread all over it that remind us that all of us can heed those “Voices of Inspiration” (the title of the calendar) to make this world a better place.

It was created to honor those who speak out against injustice and uses their powerful words to remind us of the dire consequences that can come from silence in the face of those injustices.

As Anne Frank said, “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait another minute before starting to improve the world.”

I realize the calendar represents a calling to end injustice to humanity (a cause I’ve long been involved with through various groups, including Amnesty International) but it also speaks to the power we have to end the horrors committed against our animal friends each and every day

In fact it’s far easier to help end animal cruelty than it is to end cruelty against humans because the things we buy, particularly our food, are directly linked to suffering, and we can refuse to support that suffering with our dollars.

The violent and unjust culture of man in his quest for domination and subjugation has its seeds in our treatment of animals, who are helpless against our onslaught and viewed as morally insignificant and “inferior”.

This attitude of superiority over others is what drives men to commit unthinkable acts.

It must be faced and overcome if we are ever to see peace in this world.

“I am sometimes asked ‘Why do you spend so much of your time and money talking about kindness to animals when there is so much cruelty to men?’ I answer: ‘I am working at the roots.'”

George T. Angell, 1823-1909