Hello there

It has been a while since I wrote a post, so I thought I would just write a little something…

Well, where to start….

My husband is busy looking for employment, and we are nicely settled in Brisbane, Australia.. It is winter here, but you wouldn’t know it – the temperature has been around 23 – 26 degrees since we arrived It has rained about twice in the two months we have been here.. Ahhh it’s great being back in Australia

I went to the doctor last week, as I have constant upper back pain, and was diagnosed with neuropathic pain… O_o

Basically, my nerves don’t function properly in my shoulder due to years of sustained tension (mainly caused by my flute playing as an undergraduate music student)… It was a bit of a shock to me. Neuropathic pain is rarely, if ever, cured. All you can really do is try to manage the pain. I am on strict orders to not aggravate it, which means – no flute playing and no high impact sports or lifting weights… It also means that several career options I was considering are now out the window… I was considering applying for the police force, and for work in the air force, but due to the heavy recruit training, those careers are no longer an option.. It also means that I can’t get part time work as a waitress, (I used to do this while studying, and was hoping to get back into it to fund my further studies).

I was a bit annoyed, because I was hoping that this issue would be something that was easily fixed, (I thought it was just posture related or linked to my childhood scoliosis or something), and I nearly cried when the doctor told me that I will always have this pain

I am taking regular trips to the physiotherapist, who is doing wonders helping correcting my posture and reduce the pain.

Some of my stabilising muscles don’t work, and that has caused crappy posture and – ding ding ding – shoulder tension, for most of my life.. So we’re busy working on getting these muscles working.. I am hoping that with the help of physiotherapy the pain will mostly disappear, and I will be able to have a normal life.. I am aiming for the day where I can take a walk into the city and have no pain at all (One can always hope) haha.

These treatments are costing us though :S It is hard watching our little nest egg that we worked hard to save quickly disappear.. I am just hoping that the hubby gets work soon, and then we will be fine We just need some money coming in so that we can continue to afford treatments

ALSO

Some great news.. My sister went to her doctor a while ago, because she was constantly bloated and had tummy aches, as was her young daughter, and her doc basically told her to cut down on meat and dairy (as it was causing the issue).. So in a surprise move, my sister has decided to go full vegan , and she’s sticking to it this time She has really gone nuts, and has been reading heaps of info, and joined a bunch of forums and has been on to the cruelty free shop – (crueltyfreeshop.com.au) and bought lots of vegan goodies.. She has also been developing her cooking skills, and has made some amazing vegan dishes She called me the other day and was so excited – she told me that since going vegan her baby’s poo’s (lol) are waaaay less smelly (which I guess must be great for a mum when having to change nappies XD), and she told me that she no longer gets bloated or has tummy aches..

I am soo happy for her, and proud of her After her first failed attempt to go vegan, I thought that she would never try it again, but she has surprised me and all of my family by really going for it and doing a great job It’s really great too, because we now have another great thing to talk about – yummy vegan food!

OM NOM NOM

Anyway, that’s it for today. I wish everyone a happy and pain free day

1azylizzie xo

Goooood morning internets,

I thought I would just take a bit of time to blog about something that I found so disgusting it rendered me speechless (for a few minutes anyway )…

What is wrong with so many mothers in the world today? They seem to think that because they give birth to another human being, that they have the right to do whatever they want with their children..

To all mothers and fathers out there, read this, and etch it into your brain ::

CHILDREN HAVE RIGHTS TOO!!

They are human beings, and they have rights to their own bodies.. I am writing about this because of two events that deeply upset me…

The first one happened on twitter.. One of my twitter friends (@mr_atheist) was debating with a woman about circumcision and this woman decided to respond to  him with the following :: ‘Did you know that it is MY child and that makes it MY choice?’.
No.. No it is NOT your choice, or any other parents’ choice. EVER. It is your child, but NOT your body. It is their body and therefore they should be allowed to make their own decisions about it when they are old enough to do so.. NOBODY has the right to do this to anyone else.

Of course, with some things, you do need to make decisions for your child, aka – what food they should eat, etc etc.. But to subject them to surgical procedures that are NOT NECESSARY AT ALL is just cruel and takes away their own individual rights. There is nothing more shameful than a parent who is not capable of recognising the basic human rights of their own offspring…

This leads me to the next part of my rant..

A popular Aussie radio show hosted by Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O have a regular segment in which a person is hooked up to a lie detector and is asked various questions posed to them by a friend or partner or parent etc etc.. Yesterday, in their infinite wisdom, they decided to interrogate a 14 year old child about her sex life  (against her will by the way) on the request of her mother. The segment backfired on them when the child broke down, admitting she was raped at 12 years of age.. This has of course sparked public outrage, but some people are trying to move the blame away from Kyle and Jackie to the producers and the mother..

(you can hear the segment here :: http://media.news.com.au/multimedia/mediaplayer/main/index.html?id=1285)

Lets make something clear. The Blame lies with ALL OF THEM. It is NEVER EVER acceptable to interrogate a CHILD about her sex life in a public setting. The segment was a sickening act to start with, and I would have been revolted even if there was no rape admission. The fact that the child did come out with this bit of information just made the whole scenario even more tragic.

What kind of parent does that to their child? When asked if the girl had received counselling, the mother admitted that she had not. What a disgusting woman! Her child was raped! The mother KNEW about this at the time and did NOTHING to help her daughter. Instead, she puts the girl in a vulnerable position, in which she AGAIN is forced to endure emotional suffering for the sake of winning tickets to a PINK concert.

The producers were completely stupid for approving the questions in the first place. We are talking about a CHILD! You should NEVER ask a 14 year old child about her sex life on a radio show. period.

As for Kyle and Jackie – Are you both completely STUPID? I couldn’t care less if those questions were pre-approved. If you had ANY moral compass at all, you would have decided that to even begin the segment would have been completely and utterly inappropriate. The blame lies with Kyle, Jackie, the mother and the producers. I don’t care what efforts you make to dodge the heat, what you did was WRONG!

On top of this, instead of apologising, Kyle spewed out a bunch of pathetic excuses in his blog, in which he of course tries to lay the blame on everyone but himself.

(you can see his rubbishy post here http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/kyle-sandilands-girls-rape-revelation-stunned-me/)

I really feel for the girl that was exploited and embarassed by the segment. She has now had to suffer TWICE for a horrific action that was never her fault. I sincerely hope that the poor girl gets the help she needs in order to get through this trauma, and I hope that the mother gets in A LOT of trouble for failing to support her child. I hope that Kyle and Jackie take a long hard look at what they have done and realise that interrogating a vulnerable child like that is never EVER ok.

Anyhoo, time for me to get active and seize the day.

Have a good one,

1azylizzie xo

Just going to write a quick post today because I am feeling rather lazy (as usual).

Today I am going to have a bit of a rant, so if  my writing seems to be especially aggressive or extreme, I apologise, but I HAVE to get this off my chest……

Last night I saw an advertisement on TV promoting the benefits of red meat being narrated by Sam Neil. I am starting to get increasingly tired of the meat and dairy industry constantly hawking their sh*t! NEWSFLASH! One does not need to eat red meat, or meat of any kind for that matter in order to stay fit and healthy! Nor do we need to drink milk created for the consumption of infant bovines!

As a vegan I am used to my tastes and views being excluded from mainstream media, and I have learned to turn a blind eye to the constant advertisements of flesh filled foods by various food chains. I decided to ignore popular TV shows – such as Master Chef – due to the constant frying, stuffing, roasting and grilling of animal flesh.  I have learned to ignore the cooking sections in newspapers/magazines, which generally contain various instructions on how cook a slab of meat or animal product of some description. I am also not phased by the fact that nearly every cafe/resturant/cafeteria/school/hospital or anywhere else that serves food will have limited or no options for someone like me. I can live with the fact that vegans are pretty much never considered when it comes to anything regarding food/food preparation in mainstream society. I don’t mind.

I am however, sick and tired of the beef and dairy industry trying to force their fruits of cruelty down my throat at every given opportunity.  Just stop it! Are these industries so pathetic that they have to resort to shameless self promotion in order to sell some of their sh*t? Are their sales slumping? Perhaps it is because more and more people are slowly beginning to realise that they can live a healthy and happy existence WITHOUT consuming products derived from the exploitation or slaughter of innocent creatures. Not to mention the benefits to one’s health and environment that come with this choice.

The above is just speculation, I have no idea why these stupid ad’s are suddenly appearing, but I do know that I do NOT want to see them. I get bombarded with enough pro-meat and anti-vegan garbage via the mainstream media, friends and family every single day. I do not need to feel any more excluded from this society than I already am. So to the a**holes that decided to run these stupid advertisements: F**K YOU!!!

have a great day

1azylizzie xo

Well, it has been many many months since I last posted, I am pretty useless at maintaining this blog. For that I apologise.

I guess I should start off by saying, I am now back in Australia, finally… My hubby got his visa in March, and we left the Netherlands at the end of May, with a quick stop at Norway and then the UK. We arrived back in Oz on the 13th of June

We are now finally set up, and have a nice little apartment in Brisbane.. My hubby is now looking for jobs, he has an interview tonight, and I am looking into university courses, and trying to get my act together in regards to getting fit, and sorting out my back pain…. We are enjoying it here so far, I mean 19 degrees in winter – who can complain about that?!? The only annoying thing is the crappy media and dodgy free-to-air TV shows, but I spend most of my time online anyway, so I don’t really care too much about that

Anyway, something today inspired me to write a little post, so I thought I would get back into it again

There has been a push in the last week or so to try and impose a ban on the climbing of Uluru by tourists. Many people think this is silly, and Uluru should be open for all, but in this case I actually disagree..  And in opposition to what may people may think, respect (or lack of) for the religious beliefs of indigenous people does not have anything to do with my opinion on this matter. I will explain why in the post below…

I guess I should first provide a bit of a background about my upbringing before I get into this…  I grew up in a very small town, close to a several Aboriginal communites, and have grown up with a taste of Aboriginal culture thanks to the many elder’s that came to our school to provide demonstrations of native Art, Dance, Music and Culture.. I also have an artist uncle, who derives much of his influence from Aboriginal culture and artwork.. He has told me many things about native culture and through him I have met many Aboriginal artists myself…

Through my upbringing I learned to be quite sensitive to the Aboriginal culture and saw first hand the racism, poverty and lack of understanding towards them that continues to this day. Many of the Aboriginals that I met did not actually believe the dreamtime myths etc.. These were more akin to fairytales. The Aboriginals maintained the culture of their ancestors because it held a special place in their heart. The culture held significant historical value to them and kept the memories of their ancestors alive. That said, there were some that did believe in such mythology, but I will not get into this, as superstitions have nothing to do with my view on this matter…

Now for an analogy…

When my mother was young, her sister was killed in a car crash. Mum had a large variety of toys  that once belonged to my aunt. The toys were very cool, and for many many years I was forbidden from playing with them.. I could never understand why. To me they were just toys, and toys were there to be played with. Yet mum kept them up on a high shelf and I was not allowed to touch them….  Only now do I understand why..

To my mother, these were not ‘just toys’. These held the memory of my Aunt, and hence were very important to my mother. These toys had a history and when my mother looked at them, she was able to remember the great times she had with her sister. To me they were toys, but to my mother they were much much more…

You see, in a way this is similar to the importance of Uluru to the Aboriginal people.  To them, Uluru holds the memories of their ancestors, and the dreamtime stories they were told come to life. This monolith contains memories of a culture that has otherwise been lost, and to the Aboriginal community is of upmost historical importance. To many of us, Uluru is just a really cool, gigantic rock, but to the Aboriginals it symbolises much more than that.. It is a piece of their history and contains memories of their ancestors.. It is because of this, that I can understand why they do not want tourists climbing all over it. It is also why I have no intention of climbing Uluru if I ever visit it.

I couldn’t give two sh*ts about the superstition surrounding it, and think that the significance of this landmark is not just limited to the Aboriginal people’s religious beliefs. It is a  reminder of their history and culture, and therefore I think the wishes of the traditional owners should be respected..

Anyhoo, I hope that my rant made some sense, and that it didn’t offend anyone, as this is not my intention…

Have a good one,

1azylizzie xo

This is just going to be a quick post, to let everyone know that I am still alive. I am really, very lazy when it comes to writing in my blog, so I would recommend to anyone reading this that they follow me on twitter, as I generally share my thoughts and rants more often that way.

Last weekend my hubby and I went to Berlin to apply for his Aussie visa, and luckily, it went extremely well, and he was fortunate enough to be granted entry into Australia YAY! He has 2 yrs of probation in Oz, and after that he will get permanent residency So lets hope that he’s a good boy and stays out of trouble for the first couple of yrs .

A little while ago I had a debate with a believer in ‘Intelligent Design’ via twitter. I was amazed at how utterly stupid this person was. His ‘proof’ of god was the basic argument of ‘things look like they have been designed’. Sorry, but NO. That is not sufficient proof of ANYTHING. Our brains have evolved to see patterns in everything. We have evolved this way because it is necessary for us to see these patterns, in order to make sense of the world around us. Seeing patterns in things does not point to a designer. It proves NOTHING. This person was also stupid enough to assume that evolution tries to explain the origin of life.

To all theists, Creationists and believers of Intelligent Design, lets get something clear:

EVOLUTION explains the diversity of life. Not how it started.

ABIOGENESIS: Explains the origin of life from non-life.

Despite the opinions of the idiots who believe nonsense such as intelligent design, Abiogenesis is by no means untestable or unprovable.  We have already managed to create synthetic life several times in the laboratory, with scientists recently creating a fully functioning ribisome: http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22273/?a=f

While the synthetic life we have created is not exactly the same as that which was around when the earth was young, we are getting much closer and I am very confident that we will be capable of creating such organisms in the near future.

The mountains of research that helps to strengthen the FACT of evolution, and the amazing research/experiments that are taking place to make life from non-life far outnumber the supposed ‘proofs’ of an intelligent designer.

Until ACTUAL evidence for an intelligent designer arises, this crackpot theory can go in my filing cabinet alongside Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Anyway, thats enough from me today. Time to continue relaxing

If anyone has found some great information/research on abiogenesis, please send me the links, because I enjoy reading about it.

Have a great and godless weekend

1azylizzie x

I know it has been a while since I posted on my blog. Sorry :S.

Unfortunately I am just too damn lazy and am so tired after work, that writing in my blog is more often than not the last thing I consider doing when I get home.

However, today I thought I would write a little, becuase I engaged in a very interesting facebook discussion with an old family friend from back home…

The whole thing started when I posted the following as my facebook status:

Another reason why the Catholic chruch sucks – http://www.elpasotimes.com/nationworld/ci_117 92202.
Admittedly it was not the most eloquent thing to have posted, but never did I think it would spark something like this:

Friend:

Hey what’s wrong with us Cattle Ticks Liz … do you know & realise that when all religions are pulled apart, analysed & historically positioned the only 1 true church is the Catholic Church, hence the highest authority in the Pope exists – a direct & uninterupted lineage right back to Jesus’s crucifiction & his annointed & chosen first pope in Peter who was one of his 12 disciples, no other religion can have its origins based from the time of the resurection of Jesus, only the Catholic Church was annointed by god Liz, all other religions are offshoots of disgruntled christians, ie. Luther, Calvin, King Henry VIII, Church of Scientology from the freak Hubbard, the Mormons which are funded by the originators of Tupperware, & on we could go, then the Eastern Religions do not recognise Jesus as god but as a prophet so they have no actual god just a misinterpretation of the original old testament … so I can only comment that if the Catholic Church sucks all other offshoots are farcical

… the previous comment was truncated by the maximum allowable length of comments & was just a light hearted, innocent & non-provocative attempt by me to engage you a little more on your comment … I realise the Catholic Church also has many regrettable historical chapters in its history, but they were from the blunders and hypocrisy that mankind brought to the table in running the church with maligned indignations that weren’t in true faith, the essence of christianity & its faith especially as the true believers & followers of the Catholic Church will attest to is in following the ten commandments as god intended them to be carried out, … so dear Liz … I hear you & accept your viewpoint of course but I would love to know why you have singled out the Catholic Church when all other religions have no glorious past either & are departures and conspired deviations from the original scriptures that they have transfigured & none can ever be the true original religion…

1azylizzie:

I don’t agree with any religion, as I do not believe in any gods, so I think that the Catholic religion is no better than any other Therefore I also believe that no religion can be considered ‘true’

I just think it is disgraceful that this priest who is actually doing something worthwhile is getting into trouble for something so petty as handing out condoms to prevent rape and not discriminating against same sex couples.

I think what this priest is doing is wonderful and I think it is disgraceful how the Catholic Church is treating him.

Oh i don’t single out the catholic church, there are many many religions that I also pick at, don’t worry

I strongly oppose Islam and the Mormon Church as well as The Church of Scientology (Especially Scientology!).

I just think that when a certain religion is completely defying all logic/reason and not recognising when people are doing something right because of an outdated ideology, that it should be brought to everyone’s attention

Friend:

Yes 2 of my 3 sisters were married by Father Peter Kennedy & have been in his ‘flock’ for most of his 20 years he has been the Parish Priest at South Brisbane, so I know they like many Catholics who have been church goers to his style of worshipping & carrying out of the scriptures are very upset at the heavy handed assault by the Archbishop & supposedly decreed by the Pope … I see where the dilemna is for the hierarchy in not taking some action as his practices are renegade in the view of the church, however I am with you & the many catholics who believe the church has to move and preach to the changes in culture that time and society expects & evolves into, it has to be not so backward thinking & locked in the dark ages when it comes to the issues that Father Peter Kennedy has tried to address & ordain as necessary & I agree with his stance & so too must the Catholic church and over time it will, but presently the issues are contentious & needs much divine inspiration to get there

1azylizzie:

Yeah I’m not arguing that every catholic is of this opinion (that would just be plain stupid and wrong) but I just think that the reaction to this priest by the ‘leaders’ of the church was totally wrong in every way, and unacceptable. It puts the Catholic church in a very very bad light

Unfortunately while many people of faith are nice and do no harm, the religion itself, (This applies to all religions not just Catholicism) can create an environment from where such intolerance can rise.

This is why I reject the idea of a god or (theism) as there is not a shred of evidence supporting the idea,(hence the why it is defined as ‘faith’) and the belief in certain holy scripture causes more harm than good in most cases. I am not going to believe anything unless it is supported by solid evidence.

That said, I am not having a go at you, because we both know that you yourself are a good upstanding member of society

Unfortunately I was a little more apologetic than I usually would be, as this family friend is very close with my parents, and I did not want to start some ridiculous family feud, but when my husband read it he said that I pretty much shut him up and that his comments = FAIL

Also if he had cared to read the actual article properly, he would have noticed that it was about a Brazilian priest, and not an Australian priest who got into trouble with the church for similar practices, but I let him slide on this one

anyway, I hope you all have a great and godless weekend!

Bye for now!

1azylizzie x

As you all may know, Australia is in the middle of its most tragic and devastating peacetime disaster in it’s history. Bushfires are raging in our southeast state – Victoria, with many of them believed to be started by arsonists.

Whole families have lost their lives, and entire communities have been destroyed. These communities are small and many of their members have died. Something that it is not easy for a small community to handle – I know because I grew up in a very small community.

There is large scale pain and suffering, and the people of these areas have lost everything. On top of this, because of their isolation, many people still do not know whether their loved ones are safe…..

These fires have affected the whole nation of Australia, with many of us in mourning for the losses and many of us donating money towards the relief effort…

Or so I thought…

It seems that the religious nut-jobs out there are pinning these fires on their ‘god’, and claiming that it is his/her/it’s revenge at the nation for being tolerant of homosexuals, and for allowing so much sin into the country.

I am once again amazed at the total lack of empathy by such people, and how they are so quick to turn a horrible tragedy into a marketing scheme to scare people into joining their faith…

The Theists have sunk to a new low…

There are many factors that could have caused these fires, many of them are thought to be arson, and if you want to play the blame game – fine, but not once should it be assumed that these people deserved what they got…

What about the young children that died? What about the wildlife and farm animals that perished? Am I right in assuming that they somehow deserved this too? I would love to know what the small children did to piss off God so much…

The first idiot to make such ridiculous statements was Pastor Danny Nalliah. You can see the full article about his disgraceful claims here:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/pastors-abortion-dream-inflames-bushfire-tragedy-20090210-832f.html

The second idiot that I came across spouting this hateful nonsense was a YouTube user: vatican998. You can see the YouTube video and comment here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulSv6mQ5RgM

I have already commented on the video (my username on YouTube is muso05).

Anyway that’s enough ranting from me. Time to relax and watch some TV. If anyone wants to donate to the fire appeal they can do so by visiting www.redcross.org.au

If anyone wants to donate to help the animals injured by the fires, visit http://www.rspcavic.org/campaigns_news/news_bushfires.htm

That’s it for today.

1azylizzie x

Well another weekend is nearly over…

*sigh*

I wish that we had a 3 day weekend instead of only 2 days. Especially when you have to do shit shiftwork. I don’t know why but I find that shiftwork really messes up my body. I always feel tired and and because of this, never have enough energy to do the things that I want….

I wish that shiftwork would be abolished…

Oh well, as I said in my previous post, we’re close to going back home to Australia, and then, hopefully my days of shiftwork will be over…..

I’ve also been glued to the news lately, as southern Australia is being ravaged by horrific bushfires:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25023335-1243,00.html

These fires have been the worst in over 20 years, with apparently 96 people reported dead. A whole town has been destroyed.

I can only imagine what those poor people must have gone through. Some of the footage that I have seen, including that of a singed (but surviving) koala, is just heartbreaking.

One of my ‘friends’ on facebook updated her status, saying that she was ‘praying’ for the victims of the fires. While I admire her good intent, this comment angered me a little. I felt like replying to her, informing her that her prayer will have little affect, and that perhaps she should donate some money to the relief efforts instead…

It annoys me that people would rather put their hope in some invisible make-believe sky fairy, instead of ACTUALLY doing something to fix the many issues that we face in society. Saying that you’re going to ‘pray’ that things get better, is just another way of saying that you’re too lazy to get up off your butt to help, and will therefore just hope for the best.

I however intend to donate money for the relief effort, so that the people affected by the fires can start rebuilding their lives.

http://www.redcross.org.au/vic/services_emergencyservices_victorian-bushfires-appeal-2009.htm

bye for now

1azylizzie x

I haven’t updated this blog in a while, mainly because I have been feeling lazy as hell, but also because I have been very tired after work…

This has been the week from hell, not only did I have to endure the usually insufferable stream of bull**** from my Supervisor, but had to sit and watch while several of my colleagues were fired in front of me.

What makes this story even more disgraceful, is that one of my colleagues who just got ‘canned’, has been working her butt off for this disgraceful company for over 2 years. You see, my tight arsed employers have hired a bunch of new staff for lower wages, so instead of cutting all of the inexperienced workers, they are firing a lot of the older staff.

I honestly cannot wait until the day that my husband receives his visa for Australia. As soon as he does this I am handing in my resignation. I cannot wait to quit my job. I have never worked for a company so terribly disorganised and unconcerned for its employee’s.

oh well….

My Crazy Catholic Cousin wrote on my sister’s facebook page the other day, saying how she didn’t agree with evolution… I had to (metaphorically) bite my tongue from retorting to this outrageously stupid comment..

Honestly, do the idiotic theists among us actually think that they will make the fact of evolution, along with the many other scientific facts, disappear if they simply choose not to agree with them? Its just like saying ‘poverty doesn’t exist, because I don’t believe in poverty’. See how flawed this logic is?

Holding your fingers in your ears, and singing ‘la la la la la’ does not make something any less true.

I cannot stand it when people deliberately ignore facts, such as that of evolution, because they are too scared/lazy/stupid/stubborn to understand them or because they have to admit that they are wrong.

Unfortunately, too many idiots in this world would rather stand by their unsupported beliefs, because they are too self absorbed and egocentric to admit that there are flaws in their logic..

I sincerely hope that this attitude changes, as I do not want my children to grow up in a world filled with such stupidity.

anyway, that’s enough ranting for today…

Have a good weekend

1azylizzie x

Well, the weekend is finally here, and I am feeling much better… The last few days I was struck down by a cold that my husband has been afflicted with over the past week… He is still not 100% but luckily my immune system is fighting a bit better than his, and I’m feeling good yay!

I sent my sister the ‘Meet your Meat’ video by PETA and told her to watch it, so that she can see one of the many reasons why I have chosen to be vegan. Luckily my sister is open to this sort of stuff, and she was kind enough to take the time to watch the video. She was so upset by it that she cried for hours. She also got her husband to watch it, and apparently he turned quite pale and looked rather sick for a while afterwards..

It had such an effect on her that she told me she cannot look at meat now without feeling sick, so she has decided to try the vegetarian lifestyle for a while.. She had many questions, all of which I was able to answer, and I sent her several links to some good websites promoting vegan living. She was initially concerned about her daughters health, but after doing a bit of research, realised that her infant child can also have a healthy diet without consuming animal products.

I have to say I am feeling very proud of her at the moment, for having the courage to watch the video with an open mind, and to openly admit that her meat consumption was causing unnecessary suffering and cruelty to many many animals.. She gave me a list of things that she fed her daughter, so that she could get my opinion on whether it was balenced/healthy enough. I was very impressed and agreed that her new vegan diet for her baby was more than adequete.

My sister has also been reading up on evolution and science, and has watched some ‘atheist’ videos I sent her, in particular the videos by Thunderf00t on YouTube and some footage of Richard Dawkins. She has now also confessed to me that there is not enough evidence supporting a god or gods, and has realised that she is also an atheist.

I am very happy with my sister, because while she is not the most academic of people,  she at least is open to discussion and is able to think rationally enough to change her opinions based on new found evidence and logical argument. She has impressed me greatly by her ability to admit the failings in the Creation hypothesis and to admit that her (very basic) belief in a creator was not justified. I am so glad that at least one person in my family of devout Catholics and carnivores has been willing to look at the evidence supporting science over creation and has been able to realise that consuming animal products is not necessary and creates a market for unjust torture and death.

I just wish that I was back in Oz so that I could be there for her if she has any questions or needs help… Oh well, I have at least reassured her that I am just an email away if she needs any support, help or information.

If only all the other theists and Animal Eaters could follow my sister’s example.

1azylizzie x