Dear President Obama,
Somehow I am hoping that you will get this message
through this forum. Why have I not written you a
letter? Well, a couple years back I read somewhere that you
get hundreds of letters each day, and that the mail
sorters pick out only TEN which they think are representative
of the electorate at large for yo u to read each day. I
figured the chances of my letter making the cut were slim to
none. So, I am trying
this method.
On Care2 there is a daily Cause site where we can click
petitions re health and human issues, animal
cruelty, and the
environment.
Also at this link, there is always an inspirational
quote.
This day there was one from George Carlin, comedian
(1937-2008).
When looking up his bio, I found out he was more than
just a
comedian. He was a social critic, philosopher, satirist,
actor,
and writer. Impressive by any one's standards - I know
you will
agree. His quote is the reason I am writing to
you. In my
opinion, he packed a whollop in ONE short paragraph.
In it he tackles the problem of the disappearing RAIN
FORESTS,
OUR HEALTH ISSUES, and HEALTH CARE COSTS. I was
impressed. I
hope you will be too. Here it is:
"Every 60 seconds, thirty acres of rain forest
are destroyed
in order to raise beef for fast food restaurants that sell
it
to people, giving them strokes and heart attacks, which
raise
medical costs and insurance rates, providing insurance
companies
with more money to invest in large corporations that
branch
out further into the third world so that they can destroy
more
rain forests."
Wow! Such a small paragraph but filled with a lot of
common-
sense truth. Who can dispute it?
The only disappointing thing for me is that he neglects
to
mention farm animal suffering, and sadly there are precious
few
of us who do really care about them. We are called
vegetarians
or vegans. For many of us- it is animal suffering more than
anything
else which made it so easy to change our diet.
BUT PRESIDENT OBAMA - you certainly are concerned about the
COST
of health care for all Americans - aren't you? You are
concerned
about everyone being as healthy as they can be- aren't
you? Here
George Carlin succintly provides in ONE paragraph reasons why
we
should stop buying burgers in fast food places.
You love hamburgers I was told. Then you should be the
one to
make the first healthful change. No need to fret
about economics.
All these fast food places can convert to selling veggie
burgers
or any other healthful
fare.
They are even making a hamburger in a lab which tastes like
the
hamburgers you so love. And there is even an egg product
which
hopefully will soon be on the market to replace McDonald's
Egg
McMuffins which cause such horrible suffering to caged
chickens-
never free to bask in the sun or even move around.
I hope you are not laughing, because this is no laughing
matter.
Not only are we destroying the rain forests which can provide
us
with medicinal herbs, but by consuming fast food
hamburgers as
Carlin notes, we are hurting our health and we are making
health
insurance companies wealthy by indulging in these
hamburgers
which are bad for us, bad for the environment, and bad for
cows.
Just today I received an e-mail which showed the "Saddest
Slaughter-
house Footage Ever" (which did not show the actual
slaughter
but views a reluctant, frightened cow being prodded into the
slaughter
line.) And for what? - so you can enjoy a hamburger or
your family's
favorite steak dinner on Fridays? I think you, your
family, and all
of us could well learn some lessons on compassion if we
watched it.
I assure you that the insurance companies probably are not
fond
of me. Because of my vegan diet - I haven't needed a
doctor for
years and I use no drugs - just vitamins and supplements
which
to my knowledge have no side effects as do drugs.
Well, I hope someone from your entourage has read this and
hopefully,
will convey the basic sensible arguments which Carlin made re
too
many of us indulging in fast food hamburgers. His
arguments made a
lot of sense to me. What about to anyone reading
them?
THANX GEORGE CARLIN. I toast you with my
cherry/cranberry juice
drink. You showed by this one thoughtful paragraph that
you were
indeed so much more than a comedian. You were also
a thoughtful
observer of life here on this earth and one who was not afraid
to
note its mistakes.
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