High School Lecture

Topic for discussion: Kindness, compassion, love, laws of universe, giving and receiving, respect for one’s self and others, justice, respect for animal life animals and creatures.

Universal Golden Rule: Do to others, as you want others to do to you.

This is a universal law it is taught, preached, by our authority figures, parents, religions, justice system in some form or another. Its roots are originated from this law. From the moment we start crawling and interacting with others. We quickly learn it is bad to mistreat or harm others, we learn this simply because of pain. No entity on Earth likes pain, because when we can feel pain internally and externally. Pain causes discomfort on all sorts of levels. We suffer when we are in pain, whether it is emotional, physical, or psychological.

Definition of pain:

1. Unpleasant physical sensation: the acutely unpleasant physical discomfort experienced by someone who is struck, injured, or ill.

2. Feeling of discomfort a sensation of pain in a particular part of the body

3. Emotional distress, severe emotional or mental distress.

If we take a closer look and examine the law closely we learn that this can be applied to all of existence, to keep its natural order and to live in peace and harmonious states with others and one’s self. Who are others? Who are your neighbors? Who do we share this Earth with? We share it with humans and animals, insects and creatures. We all occupy the land. There is unity that holds us all together. Yet, there is separation, specism, racism, culture and religious indifference. Etc. Several of these factors contribute disharmonies states among all entities.

Global injustice: Who is the most oppressed species in the world? Who feels the most pain? Who is in pain and suffering without ceasing? Which of our neighbors need justice and awareness? The most oppressed species on the Earth are the animals. According to About.com, Farm Animal Rights Movement “approximately 10 billion land animals are killed each year for food in the United States and 58 billion are killed worldwide, according to Noam Mohr of animaldeathcount.blogspot.com In 2009 Animals killed worldwide for Americans food in 2009 amount to 8.3 billion land animals and 5l billion sea animals. Can you imagine each of these animals went through pain and suffering before their death to be consumed for food? This is a global injustice.

Why are we killing animals? It is because of the demand. Society does not promote justice, kindness, compassion, and awareness of these global atrocities. When is the last time you saw an innocent pig or cow slaughtered on television or billboard? Society does not show you reality because this causes awareness and change.

The key is to be informed. Is what I am doing now contributing to violence, murder, and pain of others? Hold your hand under a match; we cannot stand to feel pain for 3 seconds. It’s unimaginable. Imagine the pain and suffering these animals go through while they are being slaughtered, abused, and lead to their ultimate death. Is the change worth it or positive? Think about it! You have the option to save thousands of innocent lives by taking a stand not to eat, harm, hurt, abuse, animals. You can contribute to make a difference in this world. Just you alone! So do it! Save someone today, raise awareness. Fight for a good cause. Choose if you will be on the side of the oppressors who harm and torture animals. So, how do you make a difference, you start by going vegan? What does vegan mean? It means you exclude all animals and animal products such as dairy from your diet. You do not use any items derived from an animal such wool or leather. Does it sound hard or restricting? It’s not when you think about the difference you are making by confronting reality. Not being a follower of society’s contribution to murder innocent beings. Being vegan calls for justice. It is not about what you eat, it is about the animals that you save. Being able to be honest with yourself and who you are and what you stand for.

Cause and effect, Karma, sowing seeds: How many of you all have heard of Karma? According to Wikipedia it means: actions, work, or deeds, it also refers to the principle of casualty where intent and actions of an individual influence the future of that individual. Good intent and good deeds contribute to good karma and future happiness. It’s kind of like cause and effect because of your actions and hard work you will be successful, happy, and accomplish your goals. Karma can also be described as the law of action and reaction. I like to describe it as some religions do as you reap what you sow or you grow what kind of seeds you plant. So let’s take some time to think about the kind of seeds that are being planted in today’s world and what are their effects.

We have world hunger, poverty, disease and murder. How can we change this? AWARENESS and ACTION. According to ADAPPT.com, vegan activist leader Gary Yourofsky, states that “societies that exploit animals for food are the main cause of world hunger because they feed a disproportionate percentage of the world’s crops to 60 billion land animals annually killed by the meat. dairy, and egg industries worldwide and tens of billions of marine animals-instead of 7.5 billion people on the planet, Gary also states that “Even the Council for Agriculture Science and Technology a group comprised of people involved in animal agriculture acknowledge that 10 billion people could be fed with available crop land in America if everyone became vegan.” Poverty is a direct result to our actions. Eating meat also contributes to heart disease, osteoporosis, and cancer. Meat contains saturated fat and cholesterol which leads to many health problems.

Helping others means that we are actually helping ourselves. Sowing seeds of kindness and compassion towards other beings is beneficial by contributing to the well-being of all mankind. When we work positive actions, we get positive results. This is a universal law. If we do anything negative to harm others, we all suffer as a whole on this planet called Earth. There is consequences and positive rewards depending on the decisions you make today towards others.

Be kind to yourself. Respect can be described as valuing yourself or others entities. Taking appreciation and esteem in who you are and your beliefs. People demand respect all the time. We are called to respect our parents, teachers, friend and people in high positions. I’d like to talk today about respect for one’s self. Respect for yourself means valuing your self-worth. In some situations this calls for being different and not part of the crowd. While society promotes sex, violence, drugs, and alcohol through music, television, magazines, Etc. We know that those things do not lead to true happiness and freedom. In fact people are in chains bounded by their addictions and immoral activities.

I’d like to encourage you all to live a clean, sober, happy life and it all starts with respecting yourself and others. Value yourself students. You are more than worthy of achieving your dreams of true happiness. Take the narrow road; be not like the crowd that tries to influence negative action and behavior. There is great reward in all the actions you make today. Do not let negative thoughts influence your actions. Resist temptations to fall into negative patterns and behaviors that lead to dead ends, Focus on kindness, compassion, respect, justice, love. Circle your life around these attributes. This is what makes you a constructive human being. This way of thinking and living will create a healthy happy life style for yourselves and others. Be kind to your parents and your guardians. It is their duty to provide for you. Soon you will be on your own and you will see what it is like to care for yourself alone or another. It is important to appreciate those who care for you. Sometimes people enter our lives to help us reach a certain destination.

We may go through hardship, trial, or moments where we feel defeated. It is important to rise above our downfalls and start climbing again. Never give up, if you fall or make mistake, get back up and try again. It’s in our nature to be hopeful. Always be hopeful for a new day. Learn from your mistakes and correct all negative action and thoughts. Dwell on what is positive and reject what is negative always.

Starts today eliminate what actions, behaviors, and thoughts are no good for you. Send them straight to the trash can. Today is a time for change, let not society. Old patterns and behaviors own you. You have power to rise up and change. Stand up!! Remove the blindfold.