The Animal's Lawsuit

My new favorite book, The Animal's Lawsuit Against Humanity, is a story that is over 1,000 years old but still so very current. The animals in the story are given eloquent voice to communicate their feelings about the ways in which they are used and abused by mankind, including a speech from Sheep: "If you could see with your own eyes, our Lord and King, how they steal our infants and young, separating mother from child in order to drink our milk; and how they bind up the legs of our children and carry them away to be killed; how our young are beaten and left hungry and thirsty, crying and moaning in suffocating fear. If you could see how we are slaughtered and our skins stripped away and our bodies cut open...Then in their markets, there are merchants selling meat cooked in pots, meat roasted on spits, meat baked in ovens or fried in pans- why that's us! Its our bodies they're cooking and selling!"

Sounds horrible doesn't it? I am so glad that I don't eat meat while reading this book, or anytime really.

It is full of all kinds of gems, including an understanding of the perfection of each and every creature, made the way it is for very special reasons, just like each and every one of us! Mule explains, smiling, about his friend Camel: "Notice that the length of its neck corresponds to the length of its body, so that it can pick up grass from the earth yet maintain its balance. It also enables the camel to extend its mouth to every place on its body in order to scratch itself. Similarly, the trunk of the elephant compensates for the shortness of its neck. And its ears drive away flies and gnats from its eyes and especially from its mouth, which is always open because of the tusks. And the tusks were made to serve as weapons. Then again, to compensate for its being thin-skinned and tiny, the ears of the rabbit are large so that it can hear the slightest sounds around it, and thus its hearing provides an extra sensitivity to and awareness of its environment beyond all of ours. And so it is with every living creature. God made us all with the limbs and part that are most beneficial to us and that keep us safe from harm."

In one of my favorite lines, Mule is trying to get all of his friends to join him in calling to the Spirit King, a wise and noble spirit who knows the value of justice. Mule spoke to his friends "Let us call to the spirits! Let us call together in one voice! Everyone! Shout with your heart through your lips!"

And may we all call together, shouting with our hearts through our lips, to the beautiful spirits who will bring us to harmony on earth!

Enjoy your juice while loving all living things!! Oh, and don't forget to shout (lovingly) with your heart!!

Love Katrina Rain.