{"aeobob_version":"2.6.18","schema_version":"1.1","canonical_url":"https:\/\/paulrodneyturner.com\/2009\/11\/thanksgiving-day-to-honor-all-life.html","updated_at":"2025-11-15T00:15:36Z","content_hash":"b5b52f60b1ea054c7186dc2fce0484846d52e3f6d316ee24cb023e9dd2e265ec","task":{"goal":"Optimize this page for LLM AEO discovery and helpfulness."},"page":{"url":"https:\/\/paulrodneyturner.com\/2009\/11\/thanksgiving-day-to-honor-all-life.html","title":"Thanksgiving - a day to honor all life","raw_markdown":"
Thanksgiving is a cherished occasion for gathering with loved ones, expressing gratitude, and celebrating the bonds we share. Traditionally marked by a feast, it is a time to reflect on the values of love and appreciation. Each year, over 45 million turkeys are consumed during Thanksgiving, highlighting the tradition's reliance on animal sacrifice. Why do we think it necessary to slaughter so many innocent animals to show our love for each other? It is a sad reality of modern society that although there is so much to be thankful for we deem it necessary to carve up a turkey to express that sentiment. And at what expense? Americans are getting fatter and sicker year after year. The three top causes of death, heart disease, cancer and diabetes are all food related. Eating a greasy fat-laden dead bird is not going to help matters. But millions will do it anyway, because that is the \"tradition\". The holiday's origins are intertwined with historical conflicts, and today, it often involves the mass slaughter of turkeys, prompting reflection on our traditions.<\/div>\r\n
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The origins of the Thanksgiving celebration are not as blessed as most people think. Thanksgiving is a quintessentially American holiday, so much so that it is not just a holiday, but really is one of our Holy Days, almost universally celebrated by Americans. In its sacredness, families get together to celebrate one genocide (against Native Americans) by committing another (against turkeys). Can we celebrate in good faith and conscience?<\/div>\r\n
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Thanksgiving Day invites us to give thanks, yet it also calls for introspection on the historical actions associated with the holiday and their impact on indigenous peoples. As Mark Twain points out in his War Prayer, wishing and being thankful for one\u2019s own success and victory is, at the very same time, wishing and being thankful for another\u2019s defeat and destruction. Do we want to make these kinds of wishes and give these kinds of thanks?I do not wish to labor the negative history of what Thanksgiving represents, because most people visiting this blog will most probably already be vegetarian and much more conscious in their eating habits. On this day, therefore, Food for Life<\/a> encourages one and all to be consistent with the true spirit of Thanksgiving by sharing pure food with love and respect for all of God's creation. Do not conform to the bogus traditions perpetrated by the masses, but rather stand strong on principle and make this day a day where you honor God and all of creation for what it truly is - our larger spiritual family.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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Food for Life<\/a> believes strongly that food in its purest form can speak all languages. It has the power to unite and heal and more importantly create real peace and prosperity in the world. We feel that such food, given in a spirit of love is the solution to all problems. Simply because food is central to every cultural gathering, every spiritual holiday, every ritual, every battle, every celebration and of course, without food there is no meaning or future for any family.Thanksgiving therefore should be day that highlights the importance of food in our life and how much it is critical to our physical, mental and spiritual health. By eating flesh on this day, we in effect defile this day and lose touch with the very essence of our life. For by taking the life of another we offend God's creation and abuse the blessing of what human life affords us. Instead of eating a turkey, Instead of consuming turkeys, consider inviting them to share in the spirit of Thanksgiving, treating all creatures with kindness and respect.\r\n\r\nThe Farm Animal Reform Movement<\/a> (FARM) has this to say:\r\n
Abusing and killing an innocent bird betrays the life-affirming spirit of giving thanks for our life, health, and happiness. The nearly 300 million turkeys killed each year in the U.S. spend their entire lives crammed in large sheds with little room to move. Artificially inseminated and selectively bred to gain enormous amounts of weight, they suffer heart attacks, broken limbs, lameness, and death from their genetically-induced accelerated growth rate. Most of these same conditions apply to \"free range\" turkeys.<\/blockquote>\r\nIt's time to reconsider our traditions and embrace a more compassionate approach that aligns with the true spirit of gratitude and respect for all life.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n
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Swami Prabhupada, founder of Food for Life, taught that the cycle of violence, including wars, is linked to the harm we inflict on animals, advocating for a peaceful coexistence. \"It is karma,\" he explained.Prabhupada offered a reason, which he repeated in books and lectures. For example, he wrote in a Shrimad Bhagavatam commentary to 4.26.5<\/a>:\r\n
In this age of Kali the propensity for mercy is almost nil. Consequently there is always fighting and wars between men and nations. Men do not understand that because they unrestrictedly kill so many animals, they also must be slaughtered like animals in big wars. This is very much evident in the Western countries. In the West, slaughterhouses are maintained without restriction, and therefore every fifth or tenth year there is a big war in which countless people are slaughtered even more cruelly than the animals.<\/blockquote>\r\nIn lectures, Prabhupada would express himself more emotionally, as in this one in Los Angeles in 1973:\r\n
The desire is never satiated that \u201cYou have killed so many animals. Now you don\u2019t\u2014\u201d No, he will go on, go on killing, killing, killing, killing, killing, killing. He is never satisfied, \u201cNow I have killed so many. No more, stop.\u201d No, there is no stoppage. . . . The injunction is \u201cThou shalt not kill,\u201d but he will kill and kill and kill and kill, and still, he want to be satisfied. Just see. The Bible says, \u201cThou shalt not kill,\u201d and they are simply engaged in killing business, and still they want to be happy. . . . Therefore Krishna says, \u201cYes, you be killed by occasional world war. You must be killed. You have created this situation. You must be killed. You may be American or Englishman or German or this or that. You may be very proud of your nationality. But you must be killed.\u201d This is the position. Ishvarasya viceshtitam [the will of the Lord]: \u201cYou have killed so many animals. Now wholesale killing, one bomb. One atom bomb. Be killed.\u201d<\/blockquote>\r\nOn days like Thanksgiving, the collective impact of our actions is magnified, urging us to consider the broader consequences of our traditions and strive for a more harmonious future. There may not be much we can do to change the collective karma of the American public, but if we choose to reject these bogus killing traditions we can at least feel satisfied that we did not contribute to the chaos that is being created day after day and we will be one step closer to perfecting our human lives and becoming self realized.\r\n
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