Belief

“Belief” by John Mayer

Is there anyone who
Ever remembers changing their mind from
The paint on a sign?
Is there anyone who really recalls
Ever breaking rank at all
For something someone yelled real loud one time

Everyone believes
In how they think it ought to be
Everyone believes
And they're not going easily

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Since I was born on a Friday, it seems fitting to start my first official blog on a Friday. And since it’s also Good Friday, it seems equally appropriate to start with the topic of belief – mine, yours and the world’s – as it relates to how we view and treat the world’s animals, especially those who are eaten. I’ll go easy this first time, but be forewarned that this blog will often be devoted to ranting against the absurd thoughts and unconscionable actions that result in animal suffering.

My affinity for animals dates back as far as I can remember. I brought home my first stray cat when I was six, and recall always being drawn to creatures large and small. I am what animal rights philosopher Tom Regan calls a “DaVincian” (in his book Empty Cages), someone whose empathy for animals has been strong since childhood (although I didn’t become fully vegetarian until I was 21).

Once I graduated from college and became a full-fledged activist, starting with protesting the infamous Silver Spring Monkeys case led by PETA near my metro Washington, D.C., home, I began studying more closely the tangled thread called “belief.” Why do some people believe that because animals are nonhuman, they are beneath our concern, have no dignity or intrinsic worth, and must live and die at human whim? How do others come to believe that all lives deserve ethical consideration?

One needn’t spend much time standing on a corner with a protest sign in one’s hands before public reaction is swift and rude. I’ve been told to “get a life” so many times I could have been reincarnated a hundred times over!

Now, in my third decade of animal activism, I’m still trying to figure out how best to reach people’s hearts and minds and alter their beliefs so that they see the world’s animals through a different lens, one unfiltered by the self-serving prejudices we humans are usually raised to incorporate without question and are loath to relinquish.

John Mayer’s words in his song “Belief” about paint on signs and shouts in the streets make me cringe a bit when I think of how much painting and yelling I’ve done in the last 25 years. When you’re in the minority and don’t have megamillions in advertising dollars at your disposal, what’s an activist to do to get the point across? Whisper and no one hears you; shout and you’re labeled a fanatic, or worse, dangerous.

My earliest memories are of the protests during the Vietnam War, and seeing people shouting with banners in the D.C. streets only a few miles from my home. They certainly had an impact on me, showing that unjustice can and should be fought, no matter the odds.

So in reply to Mayer I will quote Thoreau, who said, “Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.” Let’s not wait for the world to change; let’s smack it on the ass and get moving!