Lesson 9: It's their Christmas too.

Christmas is a time for joy and love, gifts and candy. But who could imagine how many homeless animals are caged in shelters, or on the streets, cold, sick and hungry in the snow on that amazing day?
Lesson 9: It's their Christmas too.

I only ask for one favor. Maybe, we should give to the animals too. If we can't save an animal from a shelter, we can certainly give a gift to them. a small toy. Just to play with and speak their feelings to if they can't go home. A little treat just to munch on and fill a little cat up with a warm and happy feeling until someone picks her up. Maybe, something as little and sweet as that could make a difference in that animal's life.

And if you can, adopt a life for Christmas. Who needs trinkets and toys when you can save the life?

Lesson 8: Love to the unloved

I know multiple individuals, animals or children in school, who probably need more sympathy than most people think.
Lesson 8: Love to the unloved

All homeless animals and people need love, but today I will focus on a few kids, who most people think need no love at all. A few kids from my school, my grade, my class.
Abigail is a girl in my class who no one particularly likes. I don't truly mind her, aside from the fact that she is close-minded and doesn't think love is important. One discussion I overheard that really tugged at my heart was a "pretend" friend of hers who was talking how mean or strange Abby was. I heard that on FaceBook, Abby posted a "sad face" picture with a heading "Cried myself to sleep." Her friend said  that this was too much information, but wouldn't she have a reason for posting it? Maybe she wanted sympathy? Why did she cry herself to sleep?

I know two nice, funny girls named Carie and Shelby. What do they have in common? They both lost one of their parents.

I think that losing a loved one is one of the worst things that can happen to someone, and both of them grew up without one parent? Before Thanksgiving break, our Science teacher had us say what we were thankful for in life. Me, Shelby and Carie were the last three to go. Shelby said she was thankful for her mom, who had cared for her all her life while she didn't have a dad. I and Carie stared to tear up. Then carie, crying talked about how she was grateful for her dad, who had taken care of Carie and her sister when her mom committed sucide. Then, I, bawling, told how I was thankful for my parents who wholeheartedly supported my decisions. All the other girls came over to hug us, and then everyone was really crying. I give some extra care to both of them now.

At the beginning of the year, a girl named Angel asked to be friends. I said yes, and she would take me to her table and I would just sit there, sort of realizing the type of friends she had- the snottier, more inappropriate types. I never really hung out that much, and went back to my old friends. later, I heard about how she was manipulating people and being mean, but then I heard the reason why. She had been yelled at at her home, and her parents never really cared.

If we could just understand these people more, the world might be a better place.

Lesson 7: Establish Justice

Tailing on rumors, we have inaccurate and common stereotypes of not only animals, but races of humans as well. These are considerably well accepted, and the stereotype rarely stops because of larger individuals taking advantage of these misfortunes.
Lesson 7: Establish justice.

Ask someone what they think about a cow. Conforming to modern society, they will normally say MILK. This is an injustice to cows who are crippled and abused for the milk industry. Cows are not made for milk, they are made for being cows. Cows are actually very sweet, docile, and beautiful animals. Or pigs, who are actually friendly, neat, and intelligent, but commonly misguided as dirty, dumb and mean. Lastly, I personally know someone who has been discriminated for talking Russian in a store. This is injustice in a nation where there should be justice for all, regardless of race, gender or, ideally, species.
Injustice for another species is injustice for all.

Lesson 6: Killing is not the answer.

That's all I hear today. A bear was killed because he wandered into his old home: Now overrun with humans. Twelve foxes died for one ugly fur coat. A snake or cow was bashed and beaten so he could be turned into a purse or car seat.  Wolves, who are "killing off" all the deer are being shot from helicopters.
Why are animals being killed for another animals personal needs?
I don't know why we call ourselves civilized. We wear other animals to look good, we slaughter animals, for fun, we steal another species milk, we horribly abuse animals for our entertainment, and we   lie, cheat, steal and murder.
The point is, killing seems to be a common thing today. Killing is NOT the answer. If only more people understood this!

"Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar. "
Unknown
"The time will come when men such as I will look on the murder of animals as they look on the murder of men."
Leonardo Da Vinci

Lesson 5: Ignorance is not bliss.

All the past lessons have somewhat explained our nations denial and ignorance.
Lesson 5: Ignorance is NOT bliss. 
At least not for the animals.
A lot of people sit around and relax, eating veal or steak without considering how or where his meal was killed. And if we do consider it, we may hope it was done fast and easy. Why? We have been trained to not think about this. Most people know very little about animal abuse, puppy mills, factory farms, fur, or leather. And the farm folk of today will do anything to conceal the truth.
As I said in lesson three, teaching children the truth will benefit the adults of tomorrow. But, every year, millions of kids are handed sugar-coated pictures of the truth. They are coloring books, distributed by the National Dairy Council, showing pictures of happy young cows innocently grazing in a field. All the animals are happy and healthy. And that myth will be embedded in children's heads their whole lives - unless they are taught otherwise.
And what does ignorance do to the animals? Humans will slaughter animals more and more because the majority of us don't know what happens behind slaughterhouse walls.

Lesson 4: Trust no one.

The title says it all. Trust no one.
You can't trust a meat company that says their chickens come from Old McDonald's Farm, because in most cases, they come from dirty, dangerous factory farms. And you REALLY can't trust the National Dairy Council or USDA. Not even the Cancer Funds. The Dairy Council will tell you that milk is a  healthful food, made for human consumption. They don't tell you that milk increases cancer or heart attack risk... and they don't mention it is from a caged, abused mother cow who had almost eighteen baby cows taken from her in her lifetime. The Cancer and Heart Disease funds deny that a simple change in diet will save your life. The USDA pressures their staff to lie about meat, and they purposely change test results to save the big-time 'farmers' jobs. You may have never heard of casein because the dairy industry covers up the truth so well.
You see, it is all a race for money. Money money money. USDA denies a vegan diet because its bad for business. Trust no one, trust yourself.

Lesson 3: Children

I'm a kid who cares about the future of other kids. Not an everyday sight. But everyone must understand that what our generation knows affects the future.
This lesson: Children.
What we want is a cruelty-free world. An animal-friendly world. But from what I see, we would need a major breakthrough in the next year or such.
When a girl sees a spider, they yell "KILL IT!" When a boy sees a dead possum, they poke and prod it.   Why? Because of our strange society. A lot of kids are taught that hunting is fun or fur is fashionable. Too many violent video games. Too many cruel fashion products. The adults are responsible for their kids growing up nice.
I have a story that sums up all of this. When I lived in Northglenn, I lived in a pretty mean neighborhood. The adults where ok, but the kids where patrolling the streets and flinging plastic all over. One day, I was walking my dog and I came across a group of girls messing with a large crawdad. I asked them what they were doing and they said they were taking the crawdad home to dissect. I told them every reason why they should not hurt the crawdad. I tried to move the crawdad. When I was trying to move him, they oldest girl, she, stepped on him! I heard a crack and his guts came gushing out! This girl was ROTTEN! TERRIBLE! SICK!  Then she picked him up by his legs and walked home, dropping the crawdad all the way. The stupid little monster didn't even consider how he felt!
It doesn't end. The girls with her were 9 and 6!
Parents. Teach your kids to be compassionate.

Lesson 2: Expel The Rumors

Rumors are bad. They give you a bad reputation. In the animal world, they are excuses.
This lesson: Expel The Rumors.
You can give me a list of what people THINK about animals like pigs, bats or rats, and I can pinpoint every myth on that page, which should be half the page.
I can only think of a few major pig myths (good thing) which are:
1. Pigs are mean
2. Pigs are dumb
3. Pigs are messy eaters
4. Pigs are dirty
All are NOT true. Pigs are very sweet animals, unless put under the stressful conditions of factory farms. Pigs are also said to be smarter than dogs, and plus, no animal is "dumb". Pigs do not "eat like pigs". They like to push around their food to release it's taste and smell so that they can really enjoy their meals. And the only reason pigs roll in mud is because they have no other way to cool off. And, pigs are actually very neat animals: they have a section in their homes where they eat, a section where they sleep and a "bathroom"!
I have heard all the bat myths.
1. Bats suck blood
2. Bats carry rabies
3. Bats are dirty
4. Bats get stuck in your hair
5. Bats are rodents
Bats are BY FAR one of the most misunderstood creatures on the planet.
Most of these myths are science-based. Any ordinary nerd could tell you that only a few species drink blood, and they only prey on animals like chickens. Bats do not carry rabies. Like any other mammal, they can CONTACT rabies! Bats are not dirty. Why would they? They just fly out of their nice caves at night and munch on bugs! And bats getting stuck in your hair is an old wive's tale. As their bad as their eyesight is, they can see. And big one, BATS ARE NOT RODENTS. Not close. In fact, they are so unique, they have their own class!
Rats. Hated for centuries. They spread disease- wrong.
1. Rats spread disease
2. Rats are dirty
During the Black Plague, it was not rats who spread the disease. It was ticks who got onto the rat's skin and jumped off near humans. Blame the ticks! Them! Not Rats! Anyway, rats aren't the CLEANEST animals on the planet, but the don't wallow in filth all day.
Some people think fish are brainless and have no feelings. Listen to these.
1. Goldfish have a three second memory
2. Fish feel no pain and have no feelings
It has been proved that fish remember and feel. (You know: The ol' maze project.)
There is a story from an old African magazine about two fish, Blackie and Big Red. Blackie was a deformed goldfish, and Big Red took him under his wing, I mean fins. Big Red would carry Blackie around on his back and swim him up to the surface to eat.
Summed up: Lot's of myths out there.

Lesson 1: Every creature deserves respect, no matter how small.

This is the first week and first lesson in compassion.
The lesson: Every creature deserves respect, no matter how small.
Have you ever smashed a bug just because it was a, well, bug? Lot's of people don't understand that that bug had a reason to be a bug, and that s/he felt pain. I just had a long lecture with my "friend" about how killing a bug because he was doing nothing was stupid and heartless. I asked her how she would have felt if a bug stepped on her for no reason. Her reply was shocking: "The bug wanted to die!" I told her other things and she came up with myths in reply, like Prairie Dogs "Carry" rabies. (FYI, that is not true.  Just because they are rodents, they do not carry disease, but they CAN contact disease.)
Yesterday I saved a fly. Some people could care less about that fly. But this fly was caught in a net, and he was buzzing frantically to get out. Not even my fly-catcher dog Bella, would attack him. She felt pain for the fly too. What I did: I grabbed a string and put it next to him. He grabbed on and was pulled out. Then he flew away happily.
I can think of other times when I saved bugs and other people did not understand my intentions, like when I saved a beetle from drowning or when I saved a moth from also drowning. ( I'm a little mad that a lot of the kids I know think that killing is the answer. I will save that for another lesson.)
To sum it up, I think that EVERY creature feels pain and deserves respect.