30.3.09

Leadership Vision and Approaches

Fuzz, Tag and Marbles were three kittens we took home on my sister’s 4th birthday. We had intended to adopt just one feline, but unable to resist the seduction of fresh cats, we gave in to our temptations and took home half of the litter. Although initially upset that my mom had made such an impulsive decision, my dad quickly became very fond of the kittens. They were adorable, bouncy, and unsurprisingly cute, but quickly turned into very fertile cats. As young children, my brother, sister, and I loved having a new batch of kittens every few months. It was like Christmas over and over. Eventually, Fuzz, Tag and Marbles kittens’ were having kittens. As an avid cat lover, I named every kitten and knew their connection to the three primary cats (Tag had a great-great niece named Oliver). After a few years of this, and as my brain developed, I realized that what was going on was unacceptable. I knew by then that pet overpopulation was a huge problem; my three cats alone had produced over 30 kittens. My family finally got the situation under control, and we are no longer a cat factory (which is surprisingly easy to achieve, the main idea of the cartoon drawing below). Ironically, I believe that one of the reasons I am so involved with animal rights is that I know first hand how easy it is to become distant from serious issues- even for an animal lover like me.

Students against Cruelty to Animals is the UT student organization with the aim to defend the rights of animals through public education, research, special events, direct action and grassroots organizing. Some of the issues we work on include animals used in entertainment and clothing, animal testing, animal agriculture/meat production, and the pet overpopulation (a video from the Spay Austin Coalition is below. We help this group on Saturdays to protest Petland's support of puppy mills). My personal aim is to contribute to animal welfare in any way I can. My aim for others is simply to educate. Richard Louv is an author who wrote a book about “Nature Deficiency Disorder.” I hate the idea of “disorders,” because it seems like people are trying to come up with a diagnosis for everything. But Louv’s underlying idea has a striking truth: people naturally seek interaction with the environment and animals. Without this interaction, they suffer. This is why I believe that people inherently care about animals at some basic level- the fact that people turn away from videos of animal slaughter, or feel joy from keeping pets, verifies this. For this reason, I believe that education is the easiest and most beneficial way to further the animal rights movement. The concern for animals already exists, all that is needed is the knowledge that certain issues concerning animals exist, and that there is a way to alleviate them.

Sometimes I feel like such a hypocrite when I stand at the SACA table and tell people to spay and neuter. After all, I have probably contributed more to this problem than anyone I have ever talked to. However, I acknowledge that it was wrong, and I pushed my family to fix it. Even as a young 8th grader, it was very easy to persuade my parents to take action to stop our cat farm. We all loved animals, we just needed to realize that by not taking responsibility for our animals’ reproduction, we were contributing to the huge problem of pet overpopulation. The changes I have been able to make in my life (and the ways I see others change their lives in reaction to problems they encounter) inspire me to educate others. For many, changing behavior to match moral standards is easy only with the will to do it. Without will, people often sidestep the issue. For instance, some common reactions to the vegetarian argument include statements like, “I like meat too much,” or jokes such as “Well do you eat animal crackers?” When I encounter these kinds of statements, I simply try to show the person that the issue is more serious than they realize. Directing them to literature, films, facts, or stories about animal related issues, I attempt to turn whichever issue I’m talking about into something real, something less likely to be pushed aside.

The members of SACA try not to be discouraged when people overwhelmingly ridicule or bash our efforts. Often, the problem is us and not them. When we protest at places such as the circus or the rodeo, our aim is to inform the people that are directly supporting these events. However, what we are essentially doing is “catching in the action,” which sometimes leads people to feel guilty, ashamed, or alienated. This is not the purpose of protests, which is why we have begun to rally in places that won’t make people feel negative so about themselves, such as the West Mall during the passing period, and random streets in Austin. Likewise, we do not tell people about the horrors of meat as they eat a hamburger, or throw red paint on people wearing fur (as PETA is known to do). If someone had come into my house when I was younger and yelled at me for being a horrible caretaker of my pets, I would have been embarrassed, and probably would have never wanted to talk to that person again, much less listen to them. For this reason, I believe that the best way to advocate change is to inform rather than accuse.

In a perfect world, I would love to see humans and nature coexist perfectly. But with the huge overpopulation of humans, I realize that this goal is not probably. Rather, I strive for a more ideal world, where animals are treated with enough respect to write their welfare into law. With enough outreach and education, people eventually decide to take a stance on an issue. This is another of my goals- to get people to recognize an issue as serious enough to take a stance- whether they agree with me or not. Without knowledge, the problem is free to exist indefinitely. As Sewell wrote, ignorance “is the worst thing in the world, next to wickedness.” This is because ignorance is such an easy way to excuse wrong doing.

As I stated before, people have a natural tendency to care about animals. The two major ways people take a stance on an issue is politically and economically. After enough outreach, which usually takes several months to several years for a specific topic, the issue will reach politics. In 2004, California decided to outlaw the production of Foie Gras. In 2008, California’s Proposition 2, The Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty, passed by 63%. Economically, people voice what they want through their wallets- if they refuse to support things they believe are wrong, such as rodeos, meat production, or fur coats, the prevalence of those things naturally decline.

Of course, not all issues are successful. The University of Texas has continually denied our requests to switch the cafeterias to cage free eggs, and to stop supporting the Barnum and Bailey Circus. When we encounter walls like this, the next step is to create petitions that students sign showing their support for the change. With enough signatures, the request can be resubmitted, and hopefully a meeting is set up with one of the advocates of the issue, where we discuss the problem and attempt to persuade the person in charge to take a stance. Although SACA has not yet had a major success, we have had some smaller successes. For instance, SACA has gotten the ARC to release one beagle who was destined to be killed from the testing center. The picture to the right shows a lemur who was housed at the ARC. Furthermore, we have pushed UT to include more vegetarian options, and they now label all foods as vegan or vegetarian.

By far, I have found that the most effective way to be a successful leader is to be a good role model; to be a compassionate leader is the easiest way to initiate change. If people see me as some crazy animal activist, they probably won’t take me seriously. Likewise, if I am arrogant and scorn those who I believe are doing wrong, I not only give myself a bad name, but everything I stand for. With patience and civilized education, I have successfully led at least a dozen people to try vegetarianism, or at least reduce their meat intake. When I encounter people who are willing to listen to me, I have learned that this is a gift and I should take it seriously. By being patient, understanding, and flexible to the beliefs of others, I have learned that many people aren’t so stubborn, they simply don’t want to be told what to do. When people tell me things like, “I like meat too much,” I remind them that simply reducing the amount of meat intake, or even choosing meat that comes from animals who were raised and slaughtered under better conditions does far more to benefit the situation than nothing at all. It is important to remind people that no case is all or nothing, there is always an easy way to help a problem if the will exist to do so.

Most of all, I have learned that the best leadership plans don’t enforce change. We cannot force anyone into doing something they don’t want to do. The only thing we can do is inform them on issues, and enable them to take a stance on their own. The strongest inhibitor to change is distance- when people feel removed from an issue, they rarely attempt to take a stance on it. Therefore, SACA’s outreach attempts to inspire people to change based on compassion and not fear or guilt. The most important thing I have learned as vice president of SACA is that it is easy to confuse the people that don’t care and the people that don’t know- in both cases there is a wall between the person and the issue. The difference is that with the people who just don’t know, the wall is easily broken with a little information. Once this wall is removed, people are free to make an educated decision about the issues that are important in our society. My motivation to advocate animal rights is best described by Anna Sewell who wrote that if we know of “cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves sharers in the guilt.”


Word Count without Quotes: 1,675
Word Count with Quotes: 1,715

No comments:

Post a Comment