Merry Christmas

I haven't been blogging much lately because real life has kept me very busy. My father in law is very ill and we've been trying to deal with that.

I bring this up because I really think that while many of my fellow bloggers are very physically active (more even than I am) there might be some who are so harried, so busy that they don't find time to work out. And I'd like to urge everyone who is in that position to make a resolution to start working out this year. This is really about setting aside some time for your own health, to take care of yourself. You don't have to be a gym star, you don't have to lift huge weights or impress people with your bulging muscles. But doing some weight training now will pay off in bone strength later, and keeping active now will pay off in mobility later. We really see the price of a sedentary life style when an older person gets ill; those who didn't exercise when they were younger often don't have the energy to fight. Their bodies are weaker and everything hits them that much harder.

So all of you, please take care of yourselves. Eat fresh veggies every day. Being vegan cuts out most of the bad stuff, but we can't survive on pasta alone, we need to add in that rainbow of fresh foods. We need to stay active now so we can be active later. We need to work our muscles and bones because it helps them grow stronger.

Please, take care of yourselves, we need you here to keep spreading the vegan word.

And now for something completely different.

I grew up on fairy tales and loved them so much that in elementary school I checked out every book from the library on myths, legends, and folk tales. And for this reason I know that French folklore claimed that exactly at midnight on Christmas eve all the animals in the world knelt down to pray and could pray out loud like people, just for that moment. This came up in folktales where the farmer would accidentally observe his cows praying at the stroke of midnight. It seemed strange to me even then that people could believe animals capable of prayer but still eat them. But I guess we turn animals into all kinds of things they're not in our minds. When it suits us we believe they don't have personalities or wills of their own, to make us feel better about slaughtering them. We tell ourselves that they exist only to become our dinners. And other times when it suits us we credit them with human motives and human religion even. Strange how we try to view them as anything other than our long-oppressed victims.

I have stuff to say about animal rights as well, but I'll leave it at this for this morning. I have to go make sure a sick bunny is eating (and if not give her some liquid food) and then maybe take the doggies to the park for their Christmas gift.