A Different Point of View

Dr. Will Tuttle

As we move today into Thanksgiving and the Holiday season, I’m often reminded of Shel Silverstein’s fine poem, Point of View. The first stanza reads:

Thanksgiving dinner’s sad and thankless,

Christmas dinner’s dark and blue,

When you stop and try to see it

From the turkey’s point of view.

Thankfully, increasing numbers of us are changing our point of view. We’re ignoring the abusive traditions of our culture and creating new traditions that embody greater awareness, compassion, and justice for all of us. We’re including animals, ecosystems, hungry people, and the whole interconnected web of life here on Earth in our hearts as we celebrate and cultivate a thankful attitude.

You can read Shel Silverstein’s entire poem at the end here.

Heartfelt thanks to all the dedicated advocates and angels who have been helping us to arrange the logistics of our Health and Harmony for All Tour, which kicked off spectacularly six days ago in San Jose at the Vegetarian House Vegan Restaurant, and which brings us today to the vegan Thanks-Living events here in Phoenix where we will be making presentations promoting the many benefits of compassion for animals. We’ll be visiting Las Cruces, Dallas, Tyler, Atlanta, and Tallahassee in the next couple of weeks as our tour unfolds.

We also like to share a recent interview with Inner Skilled entitled “From Walking Across America to World Peace via Veganism: Dr Will Tuttle’s 50-Year Spiritual Journey:”focusing on the spiritual dimensions of our human life, as well as a recent radio interview with KTAL Radio in Las Cruces about our upcoming events there and the beneficial effects of understanding the healing power of music, vegan living, and our intuitive Inner Guidance System: Dr. Will Tuttle on Creativity, Compassion & Spiritual Practice.

That’s it for now; Madeleine and I give thanks for you! And for all your efforts to bless our world.  Thank you for caring and expressing it in your daily life.

By Shel Silverstein

Thanksgiving dinner’s sad and thankless,

Christmas dinner’s dark and blue,

When you stop and try to see it

From the turkey’s point of view.

Sunday dinner isn’t sunny

Easter feasts are just bad luck,

When you see it from the viewpoint

Of the chicken or the duck.

Oh, how I once loved tuna salad,

Pork and lobster, lamb chops, too,

Till I stopped and looked at dinner

From the dinner’s point of view.