I was listening to a Ben Harper song recently and heard some powerful words. “The unfinished work of our heroes must truly be our own.”

My hero is, without a doubt, Mohandas Gandhi. He had a few things that he felt he left unfinished (untouchability and the Muslim/Hindu divide among them). But in his autobiography the unfinished work that he laments most strongly is his failure to liberate our fellow creatures. Unfortunately I don’t have his autobiography here, so will have to share the quote once I get back to Australia.

This is the unfinished work of my hero that is my own.

We search for intelligent life in the rest of the universe. We dream that in this big, big universe “we are not alone.” The discovery of minerals and matter on Mars that shows some faint possibility of life makes headlines. The possibilities of a distant star and a neighbouring planet like our own light years away excites scientists, astronomers and the lay alike. Stories of aliens capture imaginations and bring the creation of science fiction books and movies.

But we are not alone. All around us, we are surrounded by intelligent life forms that breathe, eat, drink, love, show compassion and companionship. They are troubled by fear and will cry out in pain. They bound about with youth, then care for their young, and finally slow down in old age. Every one of us has interacted in some way with these life forms. Most of these creatures we give the name “animals.”

In the aftermath of the tsunami, it was revealed that no elephants died. Indeed, in the Yala national park of Sri Lanka, not a single animal carcass was found. Amazingly, these animals had sensed the coming danger and knew to go to higher ground. Working elephants in Thailand even picked up people and carried them on their backs to safety. This is but a small taste of what our fellow creatures do in our world. What they offer besides their flesh and skins.

The immense intelligence, compassion and complicated relationships these beautiful and spiritual beings demonstrate should captivate us. Imagine that any of these animals were found on a neighbouring planet. We would strive to communicate, to understand, to learn; and we would show respect. We would not see our difficulties in communicating to mean that they are below us. We would realise that these differences are characteristics to be truly celebrated.

I find it incredible that despite this, for most people, the dominant thoughts about our fellow creatures is what dish to make out of them.

Life is life. Pain is pain. Death is death.

I have heard that it is hard to give up “meat”. I have heard that we need to eat “meat”.

For me, well, I’ve never eaten any of our fellow creatures. Their blood is not on my hands. But I have been a witness. I have sat down so many times to a table where the remains of my fellow creatures have been served up. I have talked with people as they crewed on bones and cooked flesh. I have lived in houses where the fridges and freezes seem like crime zones for the remains of slaughtered females and males, and babies, are preserved within.

As someone who was raised in a vegetarian household, I am continually overwhelmed and disturbed by the way the world is. I will always have my separate meal, but I cannot help but feel that I am letting fellow life down when I sit at that table. It is a denial of truth and I am constantly fighting my urge to walk away in protest.

My reasoning for staying is that in showing people my meal, that by answering those predictable questions, I may help bring more people to this way of life. Over the years I have seen this happen. But not enough. Not near enough.

I really don’t know how much more I can take of this horror. I am realising that I must speak up. I will never try to force my opinions on someone. But I refuse to be a bystander to cruelty and suffering. I will bear witness. I will be a force for change.

There will always be people who get some enjoyment from killing others. We can do things to bring them back to the light, with patience and love. But we can not let them influence our group ethics to such a degree any more. The time for violence and greed is over.

For anyone who today eats flesh, I ask you to please stop. Gandhi believed that we can each find the truth through experimenting. Society tells us that there is nothing wrong with taking the lives of cows, sheep, pigs and other creatures. What I ask of you is to consider that perhaps society is wrong. Experiment with a new way of life. You will be welcomed.