Towards Freedom

Today, Easter Sunday, we are celebrating life with our real Easter Bunny named Emma. It was just about one year ago on a cold and rainy day I decided to venture off into a rough part of town to check on a dog who seemed to be neglected. While driving in a downpour I asked myself why on earth I was going into a rough neighborhood to pretend to be interested in getting a dog that I had no intention of adopting.

While meditating, a picture of my sister, Maryann, flashed across my gaze. Maryann had fallen from a car going 60 mph when she was 4 years old. As a result of the accident she became brain-damaged and her eyes crossed. She was in a coma for 31 days and had to learn to walk and speak all over again. She was a constant source of anguish to my parents, who decided she would be the scapegoat for all of their problems.

When I was 12 years of age, a nun, named Sister Thea, had our entire classroom scribble a design onto a sheet of construction paper then find an object within the design from which to make a landscape. In my design, I had found a slipper that was gently sweeping among a forest floor of leaves. I drew and colored each leaf on my sheet of paper in brilliant autumn colors.

As we children matured, I continued to love Maryann and of all 7 children I was the only one she cared about and wanted to be with. She was a wonderful aunt to my children and they adored her. She had a certain child-like innocence and was able to impart a lot of her gifts to my children that adults were not privy to. I became to understand Maryann by watching her interact with my kids.

Today, Sunday January 20, 2008 I awoke at 5AM to begin making all sorts of vegan delights for 7 hours of football viewing. Seldom do we watch any television, but today is an exception. My brother Kevin will be here for most of the day to watch The Green Bay Packers in a championship play off game, which we will hopefully win so that we can proceed to the Super bowl.

Yesterday, while shopping at a major supermarket, I kept noticing obese women with shopping carts filled from top to bottom with every type of meat. One woman had sausage, bacon, hot dogs, chicken, bologna, pot roast, spare ribs, and pork chops in her cart; these were just the animals that I had a chance to observe, there may have been more mangled corpses. I seldom shop anywhere other than our Natural Outpost, but I needed a few items that this store carries for a lesser price and it is located nearby.

Every Monday morning I look forward to stopping at BreadSmith, our local bakery, on my way to work. Walking into the aroma of fresh baked bread and hearing the laughter and chatter of the employees has always been a welcomed joy for me. Today, however proved to be a rather negative experience. All of the employees know that I am vegan so they offer me samples of vegan breads as well as muffins or scones.