We Are Born With a Reverence for All Life

The best part about motherhood is that no matter how confused I sometimes feel in life, all it takes is one single glance at her.

I know that I’m meant to be right here, doing exactly this.

The most important thing is being with her, with her by my side, I’ll never get lost.

This little girl is so gentle with everything she comes across in nature and it’s getting increasingly challenging to protect her from the parts of society that I don’t want her exposed to.

She is so clear about the fact that we don’t harm animals in any way, and that this includes all life.

We watch ants and spiders and flies without touching them and when we come across a bug in the house we gently bring it outside. I talk to her about compassion and non-harm and she knows that we don’t eat animals, because we don’t want to harm them.

A few days ago she picked up a stick by the pool and said firmly, “I’m going fishing now.”

My heart broke a little bit! I don’t know where she learned that term, but we obviously don’t fish and it’s not something I want her thinking is normal (I don’t think killing animals should be considered normal, and that includes ocean life).

When I asked her more about it, she got annoyed and just kept repeating “I want to fish! I’m going fishing!”

Until eventually I asked, “But what are you doing with the fish when you go fishing? What happens to the fishies?”

She looked at me like I was being silly and said, “Mamma. I’m SAVING the fishies. That’s fishing!”

My heart swelled so much I could barely keep it in my chest.

I don’t normally write too much about veganism because it’s so very triggering to people who choose to eat differently.

But it is such a big part of my core values and raising a toddler, I’m noticing more and more how difficult it is to navigate this in the world.

No living being wants to die. I think in teaching my daughter the values of non-harm she is learning not to discriminate; to be compassionate; to be mindful of the impact she has in this world.

Why would pigs and cows be less worthy of our compassion than dogs and cats? Why do we protect dolphins but completely empty our oceans of fish?

Looking at Lea Luna and how she engages with animals and plants affirms what I already know: we are born with a reverence for all life. I want to protect that in her for as long as I can.

Xx,

Rachel