I hand-feed Schmoopie every night (twice a day actually, since she has a cross-beak caused by birth defects and can’t easily pick up food to eat on her own, though she’s semi-successful with certain soft foods.) Due to this, she’s often the last one in the special care room put to bed. She always complains, even though she has a sweet and secure perch & “nesting space” to sleep in. Her lower bunk mates Captain and Tennille, however, recently got their first doses of reproductive care which significantly calms them, and they literally cannot wait to get into bed and snuggle together every evening. I blink and they’ve settled in. 🥹💗 Our minds and bodies are literally exhausted from the treacherous downward-spiraling spin into yesterday with the Big Ugly Bill getting passed. It hurts our very souls to comprehend the suffering and lives that will be lost due to the drastic and cruel cuts which strip away the last teeny shreds of compassion and empathy that were to be found in our care systems. Activism never stops, and care must never stop. But if you are feeling exhausted today too, take some time to breathe and re-center if you can carve out a little space. Be gentle on yourself. We all need to conserve our energy for whatever lies ahead; the unity and deep empathy and commitment to justice for all living beings that will be needed to stand against the Fascism, hate and racism that is right now yanking us backwards. It’s going to take all of us to create something better. Can you envision it- the beautiful ethical, collectively liberated and vegan world that is needed, where all have the opportunity live with the respect, true sense of peace, alignment and safety that everyone should be entitled to, being born into this realm? If you can envision it, what roles can you own and how can you contribute? There are so many ways big or small. Make a list. Surprise yourself by excavating more hope from deep within that you didn’t realize you had. Today may be an exhausted pause, a chance to recalibrate, but tomorrow we rise at dawn with the crows of the roosters for liberation, and let’s all keep pushing justice forward. #instituteforanimalhappiness (fb)

As we each strive to uplift each other, we can become braver to witness the atrocities of the systems we live in. This witnessing - daring to see and listen - is key to transformation. Most of us want peace in the world for ourselves, but that won’t ever be possible within a system that cherry-picks arbitrarily who should not get any peace. Most of us wish not to experience suffering… but we don’t connect: that in causing the suffering of others, we are cementing in place the systems and mentalities and biases that ensure suffering for all will continue. The “details” of what is done to these sweet birds are not really small details, because 75 Billlllllllion are tortured and unalived every year. 75 billion globally. Suffering on this scale could hardly be called invisible, and yet how many of us have seen it? Most of the world witnessed the g3noc1de of Palestinian people for over 20 months … and so many chose to look away. Connection? Yes. Sometimes it is necessary to be cracked wide open. The heart has a hard shell like an egg, of indoctrination. Of armored fragility. Of weaponized traumas. Let’s liberate ourselves and crack it wide open. Then the floodgates of compassion and empathy open. Then we finally rise and resist the awful framework they expect us all to obey within. Yeah, we round up humans “like animals.” We need to care about every body… And question why we have never cared about all who suffer “like animals” - including the animals; the nonhumans of every species, themselves. Connection? Yes. This is why we are vegans for Collective Liberation. No one is going to be free if our vision is clouded by othering; by speciesism, by bigotry, by classism, by Islamophobia, by racism, by queerphobia. No one is free until everyone is free. Repost from @thesavemovement • 🥚 What’s really behind an egg? From the moment they’re born, chickens in the egg industry face unimaginable cruelty: their beaks are trimmed without anaesthetic, their freedom is stolen, and their lives are cut short at the slaughterhouse. 💔 There’s no such thing as a “happy egg.” 🌱 Choose kindness. Leave eggs off your plate. Via @coimbraanimalsave #VeganForTheAnimals (fb)