And My Name’s Not Even Mary
I got a message this morning from a random male on a website. In amongst some other things he wrote ‘You scare the livin sh*t out of blokes with all that animal rights stuff.’ Although he meant it in a light-hearted way (he added at the bottom that he hoped his email made me smile), it got me thinking. Why does a female into animal rights scare a guy? And in reality, us people into animal rights are the least scary people at all – because we are the most caring, compassionate people on earth. We wouldn’t even hurt a fly!
Is it the thought that we have a voice and might speak up if we desire that is scary? Is it the thought that we’re not one of those girls who will knit socks, cook for her man at the kitchen while he’s out making a living, will not argue back if he says something wrong that we don’t necessarily agree with, even possibly have a brain to think that something he says is not right?
I’m shy, I’m quiet, I’m sweet (ahem… ok, I can be… at times… providing you stay on my good side! ;-)). I’m possibly one of the least scary people ever. I would never do anything that’s ‘wrong’, I’m a good person who sticks to the rules, I don’t believe in violence, I’m against people that cause trouble, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t take drugs, I’m not a party animal, I prefer staying in and writing than going to a club (ok, if there was a cute guy at the club, I might make an exception, lol)…
How can I be scary?
It’s crazy how two words – ‘animal rights’ – can terrify people. It’s like being scared by a spider. Something so small and innocent and fragile amazingly has the capability to turn someone 50 times its size into a trembling wreck.
Maybe genius is scary. Maybe brilliance is scary. Maybe amazingness is scary.
A famous quote – ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’.
Listen and learn – were you ever told that at school? If there’s someone different to you, don’t get scared, don’t shut them off, don’t automatically assume you wouldn’t get on or they’re weird. Get to know them. Find out what makes them tick. It could ultimately make you tick too.
I’m not saying that getting to know me and why I am vegan will make you vegan – but at the end of the day, most of us people love animals to an extent – whether it be just the dog or cat that our aunty owns or that we had as a kid. Open the kaleidoscope. There are lots of colours there. It’s not just black and white. Animals are not just cats and dogs. Compassion shouldn’t just stop at the bottom of your garden.
Don’t be scared… of opening your heart. And thinking about the other living creatures that live on the earth that share the same emotions as us. The lambs that want to gambol in the field (but instead are then slaughtered and eaten). The pigs that can’t turn around in their crate because their future is the frozen department in Tesco. The fly that accidentally ends up in your house because he took a wrong turn from the bush outside. He didn’t mean to annoy you and he definitely wouldn’t have done it if he thought that death could be his fate.
If you were an animal would you want to be stamped on or squatted? Would you want to be mercilessly sliced alive? Or tortured on a daily basis?
I could go on and on. But I’ll end my 9am-on-a-Wednesday-morning ramblings here. My name’s not Mary. I’m not scary. Quite the contrary. Or maybe you’re just a fairy. ;-)
