By Robert Cohen -
[email protected]
http://www.notmilk.com
For some historians, eighteen years marks a generation.
Two generations ago, my friend Rynn Berry gave up milk and dairy
products.
In 1988, Rynn gave a talk to the New York Vegan Society,
and said:
"Twenty-two years ago, on August 15, 1966,
I became a vegetarian. Thenceforth, no
fish, no meat, no eggs or dairy products
would ever pass my lips. No animal would
ever be forced to give up its life that
I might sustain mine. So every year I
mark the occasion, and celebrate it as
though it were a birthday; for truly it
was a day of liberation, joy and rebirth!"
Happy birthday, Rynn!
Five years before Rynn's 1966 re-birth, Eva Batt
delivered her sentiments at the World Forum (October, 1961):
"Of course it would not be good for business
if too many people realized that milk is not
essential to optimal health. Coupled with
some of the disadvantages of relying on this
product of the over-worked, sex-hormoned,
antibiotic-filled, semi-invalid cow, with
her proneness to udder complaints, umbilical
sepsis, mastitis and chronic catarrh, etc.,
it might well bring about a new and refreshing
outlook on food habits.
The vegan genuinely believes that 'Thou Shalt
Not Kill' means exactly what it says; no more,
no less. It certainly does not mean 'Thou
Shalt Not Kill, except for the pleasure of
eating the bodies of the slain, or drinking
the milk intended by nature for the slaughtered
calf; the vain desire to adorn the human body
with the fur, feathers or skin of another
animal; or because it is a very profitable
business to breed or catch animals for the
experimental laboratory where they will be
starved, burned, gassed, poisoned, mutilated
and otherwise tortured and then killed."
On November 28, 1972, the New York Post reported these
words, written by Albert Einstein.
"A human being is a part of the whole, called
by us the 'Universe,' a part limited in time
and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts
and feelings, as something separate from the
rest - a kind of optical delusion of his
consciousness. This delusion is a kind of
prison for us, restricting us to our personal
desires and to affection to a few persons
nearest to us. Our task must be to free
ourselves from this prison by widening our
circle of compassion to embrace all living
creatures and the whole of nature in its
beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this
completely, but the striving for such
achievement is in itself a part of the
liberation and a foundation for inner security."
Go on to The Dream of
Icarus
Return to 18 August 2002 Issue
Return to Newsletters
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