Last year, I posted a Vegan Thanksgiving Prayer. This year, I came across a post on another blog, Happy Healthy Long Life, which is all about gratitude for the wonderful things and people in our lives. In Jainism we are very careful not to harm and our rituals seem to emphasize beneficial regret and asking forgiveness. My Thanksgiving prayer typifies our Jain sensibility. In a complementary way, gratitude can bring a positive aspect to our care for other beings.
Incidentally, the writer of Happy Healthy Long Life has a scientific and health focus, but recently she wrote about how it felt to learn about the way that dairy cows were treated. I found it refreshing that she discussed the compassion aspect of a diet that she found initially for health reasons.
Farm Sanctuary has a live stream on Thanksgiving of rescued turkeys at their New York Sanctuary (go to farmsanctuary.org from 9am to 4pm). Turkeys are surprisingly cute and friendly as we found out last week when we visited Harvest Home Sanctuary.
I am grateful, dear readers, that you chose to read this blog and that i have a venue for expressing these thoughts. May your holiday be full of joy and compassion.
Have a very happy Thanksgiving.
Vegan Jains 