Reverence For Life

I've always had a reverence for life, all life. I'm not sure where mankind developed the idea that it's ok to destroy other species without thought. I'm not saying everyone, I'm just saying as a collective, I witness this on a daily basis. It bothers me so much that ego has brought humanity to this point. I am constantly bombarded with horrifying images of sport hunting, poaching, factory farming and irresponsible pet ownership. It saddens me to tears sometimes. There's so much of it, can I even make much of a difference at all? How many people research where their meat or everyday products come from? I know I didn't. Do people realize there's a kinder way to eat meat or buy makeup and everyday cleaners? When we purchase products do we see what's behind the items on the store shelf we're purchasing? I definitely don't want to preach all the gruesome and horrifying facts, I'm not that type of person. However, people do need to be educated. I'm always walking a fine line between what divulge and what to keep to myself. The hard core animal activists just piss people off and that's not my intent. I don't judge anyone on their decisions and often wish I had not started researching certain things. But, I have, and for myself, I need to work on being a responsible human being. I know I'm not perfect, and may be even being a hypocrite and not even know it yet.

I doubt I'll ever be able to change the world, but I remember only a few months ago my coworkers stomping on spiders and me asking them a few times not to. Today I heard from my office, "LINDSAY, you better come quick or I'm gonna squish this ugly spider." So I ran over with my cup and took him to a bush outside. It's a small thing. I wonder if the spider even knows what his fate almost was, but to me, he's a life that is not up to me to decide to take without a second thought just because.

Maybe I'm just being over sensitive and sorry for the rant. It's just something that's been bothering me today more than usual. I do recognize that there are large groups of people fighting this very same thing, and there's many that do care. I'm just not sure it's enough. I just simply ask that you think about what you're buying.