Here’s this week’s show!
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In this episode, we start the show by reminiscing a bit about companion animals who have touched us in our lives and our experiences in losing them.
Effective Responses to Common Vegan Arguments
We take a stab at this popular segment to present to you our responses to common questions and arguments that are often heard amongst those who choose to abstain from animal exploitation as much as possible, with the intention that you may empower yourselves with these responses the next time you are faced with these arguments.
Questions and arguments may include: “We have much more important things to worry about! What about all the poverty and starvation in the world?”; “Animals were put on this planet for our consumption. Why should we not use what is given to us?”; “It’s ‘natural’ for us to eat meat, it’s the circle of life”; “Animals don’t have feelings or intelligence the same as us. Why is their suffering important?”; “I don’t think I could ever give up dairy. I love cheese and ice cream waay too much!”; and “I am vegetarian. But I still eat fish… I mean, they’re just fish.”
Tune in to hear our replies!
Sharon Discorfano, Coping with Companion Animal Loss
For our feature interview, we have author, attorney and animal advocate Sharon Discorfano on the show to speak about her experiences on coping with the loss of a companion animal – something that many of us have, or will, experience in this lifetime.
After the death of her beloved beagle, Pushkin, in 2009, Sharon decided to write a letter each day to him during the season of Lent, resulting in a collection of 47 letters, and a book that was recently published, entitled “Letters to Pushkin”. The letters document a healing process; together, the letters form an intimate conversation about life, death, and the afterlife that combines spiritual and religious traditions from East and West – from the Catholic ritual and reflection of the Lenten season to the Buddhist search for enlightenment – and various disciplines including yoga, meditation, and traditional observances.
We speak with Sharon about the grieving and healing processes when losing a loved one, her thoughts on the afterlife for our companion animals, and actively practicing the cherishing of your time together with your loved ones to preserve their memories when they are no longer with us. Sharon also tells us about her website www.LettersToPushkin.com , which brings people together to share the emotions of their losses via the written word.
Please check out this video to see a bit of Sharon’s story in her experiences with Pushkin:
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