On November 23, 2008, my Unitarian Church asked me to do a five-minute reflection of things I'm thankful for. This is what I came up with. Although the response was overwhelmingly positive, one family (who declined to confront me directly) said they were offended at some of the content (given that it was an intergeneration service), so I removed the content in red for the second service.

They asked me to say what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for:

• my family

• my children

• my health

• the fact that I'm alive

• and in a church with like-minded, critical thinking people who, like our Fourth Principle says, believe in "a free and responsible search for truth and meaning", no matter what these truths may be

Thanksgiving is significant to me because I became vegetarian on Thanksgiving in 1984. I remember it vividly: I saw the bird on the table and the doorbell rang and the guests were arriving and I looked up at my mother and said "I can't do this anymore."

In the 24 years that have followed, my vegetarianism has had a profound impact on my life, and I'm thankful for this.

I've been a UU about seven years longer than I've been a vegetarian. Our 7^th Principle states that we believe in "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. "

I've always thought that UUism and vegetarianism are a natural fit and I think I'm in good company. Famous UUs we admire like:

• Susan B. Anthony

• Clara Barton

• Charles Darwin

• Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Albert Schweitzer

• and Henry David Thoreau

...were all vegetarians. Emerson is quoted as saying:

"You have just dined, and however scrupulously the slaughterhouse is concealed in the graceful distance of miles, there is complicity."

Let's talk about these slaughterhouses. I know it's almost Thanksgiving and we've got kids here, but I take comfort in the fact that we're critical thinkers who believe in the Fourth Principle and also openly discuss things like Darfur and the so-called war in Iraq with them in ways that they can understand.

Every year in the United States, 300 million turkeys are killed for their flesh. Almost all spend their entire lives on factory farms and have no federal legal protection.

[Omitted for second service: Turkeys raised on factory farms are hatched in large incubators and never see their mothers or feel the warmth of a nest. When they are only a few weeks old, they are moved into filthy, windowless sheds with thousands of other turkeys, where they will spend the rest of their lives. To keep the birds from killing one another in such crowded conditions, parts of the turkeys’ toes and beaks are cut off.

I could go on. PETA recently released undercover video footage showing factory workers abusing turkeys.] In any scenario where you have live animals and economies of scale dictating profit considerations, abuse and negligence are almost a mathematical certainty.

The sad and fascinating part of this for me is that I feel that there is absolutely no moral foundation which justifies extinguishing the lives of other creatures, be they human or non-human, who are capable as feeling pain and suffering as we are. Even mainstream associations like the American and Canadian Dietetic Associations have as their official position that meat isn't necessary to our survival and properly planned vegetarian and vegan diets are suitable for men, women and children of all ages.

Vegetarianism is a fascinating cause for me because as far as I know, it's the only one where we aren't try to stop an external oppressor from oppressing someone else. Change starts directly with us. If we stop slaughtering and financially supporting the slaughter of animals, the slaughter will stop.

I have a friend whose eight-year-old daughter decided on her own to stop eating meat because she didn't like the idea of animals being killed. My friend worried that her daughter would become what she called a "tortured soul" and wanted to spare her from that.

When she said that, I thought of myself, a sometimes-tortured soul who's nevertheless had some pretty amazing experiences: traveling abroad, marching against bullfights in Barcelona, against factory farms in Amsterdam, against animal cruelty in France. Not to mention the countless rallies and protests and all the friends I've made both here and abroad. I'm thankful for all that.

Each year, our family goes to Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen, a sanctuary where rescued farm animals can live out their lives in peace. One year, I fell in love with a turkey named Whisper who would let me pet her, cuddle her and hold her in my lap. When I think of Whisper, then the 300 million turkeys on people's dinner tables who used to be just like her, but whose lives have been snuffed out for reasons that no one has ever been able to morally or logically justify to me, I feel sad. But then I think about how I'm here, in front of you, given this opportunity to say what I've said to a churchful of people I feel close to and safe with, in a country which despite its numerous shortcomings, nevertheless allows me to speak my mind, and then I feel thankful again.

Thank you.

Copyright © 2008 by Mohan Embar. All Rights Reserved
May be used in unchanged form by avowed Animal Rightists if accompanied by this copyright message.

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