Dear all,

I too am grateful for the original post and all the answers, and that the post is still here. Like others I found it searching for answers how to cope with animal cruelty and their suffering.

I recently turned to Buddhism and meditation for help, as my stress and hurt finally gave me physical symptoms. I understood I couldn’t go on living with the pain of others suffering. This thread is helpful in so many ways, realizing you are not alone is one of them.

As with everybody else here I know the pain, I too have tried to scream it into my pillow, feeling myself breaking into pieces. Your own powerlessness. The ignorance from others you just can’t understand. To me, ethical vegans, or anyone refusing to live in blissful ignorance, are the bravest of all, because I know what it takes to open your eyes and really see. Stare at the truth without flinching, when that’s all you want to do, knowing your life will never be the same again. I have had people covering their ears when I try to tell them, telling me to stop, they don’t want to know, a luxury I denied myself for the sake of animals. This is one of my struggles now, I want to try help people open their eyes, to be a voice for the animals. At the same time, I don’t want to inflict the pain I felt on my fellow humans.

So, I take it in small steps, trying to feel when someone is ready or not, and to be there when the curtain finally falls, to help them. Of course, some people will never try to see beyond that curtain, so I focus on the ones I can.  When I was younger, I, as many others, lost hope in humanity. But do you know what happened. I was informing about animal cruelty at a small stand in the city, and one man went really upset. Saying how humans didn’t deserve to live for what they inflict on animals. I discovered I ended up defending humans.

Today, I try in every choice I do to be the change I want to see. But I want to contribute to the change with love and compassion, not with hatred or cynicism. I sign petitions, I give money to charity, I make a statement with my diet, I volunteer for animal causes. Contributions that may seem small, at times insignificant. But they aren’t. As someone said, we can’t stop it all (yes, I’m still struggling to accept this), but we can contribute to the change together.

To me, Buddhism has so much to teach, and I regret not turning to it earlier. I’m still a novice, still a student, so I don’t know all the fancy Buddhist words for everything. But I am starting to understand the difference between compassion and empathy. In the beginning I was afraid I would lose my will to help if I allowed myself happiness in a world with so much suffering, but realized actually the opposite is true. Also, reading through this post hearing the suffering of others caring for animals, I want to tell them not to suffer, that they should allow themselves respite, their suffering is not taking away the suffering of the individual they are suffering for. That they are wonderful shining people making the world better and who deserves to be happy. Writing this, I understand this should also apply to myself.

With love
Anna