An Ode to a Vegan New Year: From a Modern-Day Lorax

 Hello beautiful KMIV-ers!

As I'm sitting next to Steve, about to enjoy our New Year with a lovely vegan dinner and time at home with our kitties, I am also hoping you are all celebrating the beginning of a fabulous, delicious, compassionate, KISS-WORTHY 2012! 

Steve wrote this poem for an upcoming article in a vegan-friendly magazine, and I would love to share it with you all. I think it really encompasses our purpose and passion here at Kiss Me, I'm Vegan, especially at the dawn of a very special year!

Here's to a 2012 filled with yummy vegan food, cruelty-free choices, stepping it up a notch with our activism, and realizing how very blessed we all are to live in freedom. Let us allow change and transition to be a natural part of our everyday experience, so we can really begin living our best lives. Let us remember how important it is to be the voice of so many animals in need, and let us speak up for them at every turn. Most importantly, let us speak from a deep place of truth and love this year and allow each action to reflect that truth and love. Speaking of love, I love you all, and am so thankful to have YOUR love and support. Cheers!

An Ode to a Vegan New Year: 
From a Modern-Day Lorax

By Steven Todd Smith | Ahimsa Life Coaching

Steve and Lila at Animal Acres.

I am a vegan

I speak for all beings

I speak for all beings for all beings don’t have a voice

Yet each of us humans each day has a choice

Unfortunately, usually one choice is had

A choice that, inevitably, is horrid and sad

For when any choice leaves one without life

There’s suffering, pain, there’s cruelty and strife

And, in the end, when one’s gone, one’s gone

A choice leading to that cannot be withdrawn

Each year in our country 10 billion land animals perish

For food which we eat and say that we cherish

That’s still leaving out about 50 billion more

That come from the sea and are stolen to shore

There are so many ways to help make a change

And none of them involve an unfair exchange

The first change to make is right with your diet

Vegan? That’s restrictive. Oh, really? Just try it!

In fact, there’s quite the multitude of food

With all the best tastes to put you in the best mood

There’s all veggies, all fruits, all nuts, and all seeds

Legumes and whole grains for all nutritional needs

You still can have pizza and nuggets you can make

Indulge in your ice cream and cookies and cake!

Just from different sources, from sources more pure

And from these alternatives comes life, that’s for sure!

So without any worry, you can ditch the meat,

The eggs and the dairy, and still have everything you eat

There are plenty of cookbooks and resources where

You can stay master chef in a kitchen with flair

You have everything to gain and nothing to lose

You just have to think, commit, and then choose!

The second change comes with your inner compassion

Opening your heart in dramatic fashion

For a person who cares, why a person who cares

Provides so many benefits than someone unawares

For your health, sure; but to keep others alive

In one year, each person saves ninety-five

Now think even deeper, about all that you’ve ate

Did you intend to control some animal’s fate?

Or was it natural and normal, necessity too?

In this day and age, though, none of those three are true

Do you truly condone what happens to these innocent creatures?

Of different dispositions but with similar features

For they walk and they breathe, they eat and they sleep

They can’t quite speak English, but they can snort and can peep

Also moo, neigh, winny, baa, and cock-a-doodle-do

They communicate and have families, not unlike me and you

Sure, we can’t understand exactly what they say

Do you think they’d give permission to steal babies away?

Or to confine them, or beat them?

Or maim them, or eat them?

We wouldn’t condone these things toward any others

So while non-human, let’s think of them as our sisters and brothers

To co-exist peacefully, as we progress

Living life to the fullest and to never oppress

The third change involves looking out for our Earth

Creating a powerful, beneficial rebirth

The effect on our planet would be quite dramatic

Since our current eating and farming is problematic

What sort of world do we want to create

For our children and grandchildren, when we’re ninety-eight?

Looking back down the line, we’d hope to get that far

But nothing’s for certain, if we’ve dug too deep a scar

I am a vegan

That’s something you can say

You can speak for all beings starting today!

You can have your best health, watch others have it too

Make strides for our home, and save lives while you chew

Connect with the consciousness of all that exists

For that’s of which a true Green Planet consists!

You have everything to gain and nothing to lose

You just have to think, commit, and then choose!

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot

Nothing’s going to get better, it’s not.” ~ The Lorax 

Steven Todd Smith, AADP CHC, runs a holistic health coaching practice, Ahimsa Life Coaching, www.ahimsalifecoaching.com, and is ready to create happy, healthy, balanced, and green lives for those in search of their best self!