Sep22
One Can Make a Difference
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Some people ask me if it is true that my latest book, One Can Make a Difference, contains essays by people who have done things like make documentary films or compose songs, collect shoes for South American village children, clean up the base camp at Mount Everest, or make people laugh—instead of being all about animals? Well, yes, but I'll reveal my secret. Every single one of the more than 50 people in the book—from the famous people such as Sir Paul McCartney (the world’s most famous "veggie"), Stella McCartney (who is adamantly opposed to fur and leather), Petra Nemcova (the supermodel who stopped eating fish after she saw them on the beach in Thailand after a tsunami), Dr. Henry Heimlich (a staunch anti-vivisectionist), and Willie Nelson (who fought to ban horse slaughter) to the little-known seal-hunt protesters, soup-kitchen operators, performance artists, and sanctuary founders—are kind souls. If they weren't, they wouldn't have made the cut.
As the author John Galsworthy said (and those of you who've heard me speak know that I often repeat this), the three most important things in life are to be kind, to be kind, and … yup, to be kind. His Holiness The Dalai Lama is in my book, and he says pretty much the same thing in his lovely little essay about how a person's religion should be based on compassion—nothing else matters. Now, some essays, including those by Brigitte Bardot, Rachel Rosenthal, Carol Buckley, and Peter Hammarstadt, are all about animals: elephants and cats and mice and whales specifically, but you will find animals—such as Doris Richard's dogs—peeking out of other essays too. And in the essays that do not mention animals, the spirit of the writer leaves you no doubt that he or she would no more ignore a bird fallen out of a nest than he or she would step over a destitute human being.
I hope that my book will open hearts to the diversity of life and open eyes fully to the stunning number of ways in which one—anyone—can make a difference. Writing it was a great experience. I hope that reading it will be just as much fun!
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Posted by Ingrid E. Newkirk
P.S. Tell us why you make a difference! Comment below to win an autographed copy of One Can Make a Difference! You can also go here to nominate someone who makes a difference.
You can post comments until October 6 to win the book. We will contact the winner on October 7. Be sure to read the contest terms and conditions and PETA's privacy policy before you comment. By leaving a comment, you're acknowledging that you have read and agree to both.
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Comments
The book sounds great, and I can't wait to read it! I think I make a difference by standing up for animals and speaking out to people about PETA and animal rights and welfare. Not too many people take me seriously; I live in Winnipeg (Canada), and I've yet to meet someone with compassion for animal rights like me. I'm also 15, so I don't get much people believing what I have to say. (Like that'll stop me.)
Keep up the great work PETA!
Posted by: Aneliese Krulicki | September 22, 2008 11:59 AM
Hi my name is Rebecca, I am 20 years old and moved to S.C. from FL three years ago, since then I have been working on my B.A. in Zoology, when I arrived here in S.C. I realized how horribly animals are treated here. Dogs left to suffer starving on the side of the road, animals hunted constantly for "sport", wildlife purposely run over in the middle of the road, it is sick. So I went out and volunteered with a woman who was a wildlife rehabber for a year and then registered to be one too. I live on 60 acres with my parents where I rescue, rehab and release orphaned and injured raccoons, possum, deer, squirrels, wild pigs and other animals. I also take in domestics that have been abandoned, get them spayed/neutered and find homes for them. People ask me all the time why I don’t use my free time between work and classes to pursue things other than helping animals, or they say that it doesn't matter because I can't save them all. I only have this to say, “It means everything to that one.”
Posted by: Rebecca Scheffler | September 22, 2008 12:45 PM
I make a difference because animals don't have a voice to rise up and speak on their own behalf. Someone has to do it for them and that someone will be me untilI either have no more voice of my own, or our collective voice is heard and answered. I communicate for the animals through emails to companies, through demonstrations and protests on street corners, through rallies on the steps of our legislatures, through not eating animals or anything that comes from them. I make a difference by talking to my loved ones and helping them transition away from eating meat. All of this makes me smile since I know I'm making a difference for the animals, however small it may be. Together we make a big difference.
Posted by: Laura Thompson | September 22, 2008 12:50 PM
I heard a guru onetime say...we take a lot of food, a lot of air, a lot of resources to sustain us...we need to give back. We are not meant to just take and take and give nothing back.
I've been sustained my whole life with food, air, water, education, enough money, etc. I've never gone without. I have to give something back in order to make my life worthwhile. This is the cause for me to do so. This cause because innocents are suffering in unspeakable ways.
Posted by: Soliel | September 23, 2008 04:27 PM
I know I can make a difference and Ingrid, you are my inspiration. I've done speeches to open my peers' eyes of the suffering animals are forced to endure and every time, I've told myself that Ingrid would be so proud. I won't lose my life for speaking out against animal wrong wherever I see them. But the animals do lose theirs if I don't so I must. Ingrid is inspirational to me, and I'd love to be just as successful as her one day.
Posted by: Jessica | September 23, 2008 11:20 PM
I make a difference in supporting animal rights donating to Peta, HSUS so they can help lessen their immense suffering. I get discouraged because people are so cruel, especially those who exploit for profit like factory farms. It might no be in our lifetime but one day we'll look back in horror at the barbaric ways we use & abuse defenseless, voiceless victims.
As a result of Michael Vick's dog fighting scandal I became a vegan because it opened my eyes to how sadistic humans are to not only pit bulls, but all species. I've made a difference personally where I live by taking in other's companion animals that they found inconvenient, discarded, dumped on the streets like trash. I now operate my own little rescue shelter, saved an abused pit bull, a hunting dog abandoned in the woods & left to die, kittens infected with feline leukemia and more. It's a little hectic, but they are safe with me & I'll be there giving them shelter, food, health care, love until they leave this world that was so awful to them in the past.
Posted by: Gina | September 24, 2008 03:58 PM
The world although being broad and ugly at times (in terms of war, poverty, and animal cruelty) is hard to get to. I find that most ppl decide to remain ignorant about hard topics like the above. I became vegetarian three years a go and I showed "Earthlings" to family and friends. None of them joined me although they tried for a few days. But I think it has at least opened their minds to a small cruel part of the world. I admit, I haven't changed the world, but I've changed MY little world. My family and friends hold a new perspective towards animals and even though they still eat meat and such, it's never the same to them. I know they've shared what they've seen and experienced with others, and I believe that little by little the world can at least hear by word of mouth what goes on in the world concerning animal cruelty in every meaning of the word. I'm proud of what and who I stand for, my family and friends see that and although they sometimes just don't quite understand me, I know I am making a difference in the world. Even if that means that I'm just one vegetarian in one hundred. I am a difference.
Posted by: Ilse Gonzalez | September 24, 2008 05:41 PM
I helped change the world by taking public transportation instead my own car... Because we have to prevent pollution
Posted by: Evelyn Guell | September 24, 2008 06:28 PM
i have always respected and loved animals since i was a child. i have rescued and taken care of many animals. the key to compassion is to teach your children to respect animals and to be compassionate and humane. i am now involved with a TNR program at the ASPCA, which consists of taking a 3 hour class to be certified to trap/neuter/release ferral cats free of charge by the ASPCA here in NY. since many feral cats are not adoptable, at least if they belong to a colony who is being fed daily they can now be neutered to help control the population. there is an online community that helps one another with this cause...
www.nycferalcat.org
Posted by: debera | September 25, 2008 07:55 AM
hi animal friends.i have been a vegetarian for 4 years,inc fish or products containing gelatine etc,refuse to wear leather or fur of any kind inc fake.i own 3 cats and 3 dogs and chinas treatment of these animals sickens me.i detest any kind of cruelty....they are helpless creatures....i only hope what goes around comes around to thesepeople
Posted by: patricia townsend | September 30, 2008 05:17 PM
debera
A very encouraging post. Thank you.
Posted by: lynda downie | September 30, 2008 11:18 PM