Happy (ish) Thanksgiving

Well, it's that time of year again..... Thanksgiving. My most despised holiday. Last year there was a small bit of controversy over my holiday post, so this year I am going to try to be a little less offensive, a little. I'm not going to go into all of the reasons I hate the holidays again. So if you want to read my uncensored, angry rantings about Thanksgiving and Christmas I recommend you read my blog from last year http://thegirlwiththevegantattoo.blogspot.com/2010/12/happy-pretend-you-give-shit-so-your.html

I still feel that way about Thanksgiving, but I think this year is going to be better than last year. For one thing, I have decided not to go to any dinners where meat will be served. I have gotten to the point in my life where I'm done pretending to not be bothered by other people eating dead animals in front of me. That shouldn't be too hard though, because this year my entire immediate family is vegetarian and my sister is planning to make a vegan dinner.

The one thing that really makes Thanksgiving bearable for me though is Farm Sanctuary's Celebration FOR the Turkeys. This year my boyfriend Brian http://brianornduff.com/blog/ and I made the trip to Watkins Glen together. It was wonderful! Farm Sanctuary is just such a beautiful place, in every sense of the word. Being there and seeing all of the animals living the way they were meant to live, in happiness and peace, always gives me hope and sort of rejuvenates me. Seeing so many people come together to honor these animals instead of hurt them makes me believe that someday we really will be able to end their exploitation.

I got a chance to reconnect with some of the friends I made during my internship, both human and nonhuman. I was especially happy to get to see Emily Pig again. She was the one animal I felt the greatest connection with during my internship. I also got to meet the farm's new resident, some ridiculously adorable piglets and incredibly cuddly calves. Sadly, I did receive some bad news while I was there. I found out about the loss of a very good friend, Dean-o Rooster. It is heartbreaking to think about him not being at the farm anymore, but knowing that he had a long and happy life filled with the love of so many great people makes it much easier.

I found the speakers they had this year to be especially inspiring. Susie Coston, the national shelter director, has such a connection to all of the animals at the farm that she is always able to talk about them in a way that makes you feel like you know them personally. Gene Baur, Farm Sanctuary's co-founder, flew in form the California shelter in order to be there. I always love hearing from him, because Farm Sanctuary has done so many wonderful things and without him none of them would have been possible. Leilani Munter is a female, vegan, environmentalist, race-car driver. Just the fact that she exists means that things are changing in the world.

Seth Tibbott, the founder of Tofurky, was the one who left me feeling the most motivated though. He said something that Brian and I both felt really resonated with us. I wish I could remember the exact quote, but alas I cannot. It was something like this though. "If someone tells you something is impossible, just do it anyway and then later you can look back and decide whether it was impossible or not." I think that pretty much sums up the way we all need view not only our own lives, but also the entire animal rights movement. Most people out there will tell you that ending animal suffering is impossible, but we have to just do it anyway. Then later we, and all future generations, can look back and decide whether it was impossible or not.