Take an Animal to Your Heart
You don't have two hearts: one for people and one for animals. "You have a heart or you don't," the French philosopher Alphonse de Lamartine wrote. A human heart is big enough for a child, a partner, a parent, a friend... and an animal. The pet dog or cat. Maybe they were once neglected and dumped, but now have been adopted from a shelter. Rescued with love. And treated with care as a part of the family. A human heart is not too small for the abused horse that finally gets a worthy life, saved from the slaughterhouse by a person who listens to his heart.
People are capable of really loving animals
To take care of them and treat them with respect. And to say goodbye to them as to a dear friend. We take animals to our heart when we are preoccupied with their welfare; knowing that monkeys in a lab, chickens in a factory, or pigs in a breeding station cannot demand respect themselves.
By taking animals to their heart, people can contribute to a better world. Likewise, they do this when they set up an organisation to protect the welfare and rights of animals.
Within the United Religions Initiative (URI), animal welfare is one of the issues that URI’s Environmental Network addresses. As the URI Charter states, “We unite to heal and protect the Earth,” and “act from sound ecological practices to protect and preserve the Earth for both present and future generations.”
The Environmental Network is a group of Cooperation Circles dedicated to addressing challenges in their community related to environmental degradation and climate change. We share our methods for environmental engagement through webinars, toolkits and partnerships so that our wisdom may speak to the diversity of environmental challenges we face, including valuing the lives and conserving the habitat of all living beings. We are connected by a shared commitment to reconcile our relationship with the Earth and all living beings and together we work towards peace, justice and healing for all.
Movement without a Name (MWN / BZN) CC and URI Europe wish to contribute to a better world in a substantial manner. We want to set an example and have therefore introduced the URI Europe proverbs. They are meant to inspire and spark conversation. You can subscribe to the URI Europe monthly proverbs for free. Click here to find out more.
