Peace and goodwill to all?

It is Christmas – the season of peace and goodwill to all. It is also, lest we not forget, the time of year when the birth of Jesus (ie. the son of God) is celebrated. Being a devotee of Krishna, there is no personal conflict in accepting Christ to be the son of God. Even if one does not accept the divinity of Christ, one can still appreciate the depth of Jesus’ love and compassion for all.

It is also a precarious time we live in. The world is under severe threat from climate chaos due to large-scale abuse and misuse we humans have inflicted on the planet. Any informed person now knows one the largest causes for this is the livestock industry, which emits more green house gas emissions than all the cars and planes in the world.

As Christmas day approaches, 10 million turkeys will be killed in England. It is hard to imagine killing on this scale. Multiply this by the other countries in the world that celebrate Christmas, and I highly doubt the turkeys feel much peace or goodwill. Does it not seem ironic, that to celebrate the birth of Jesus – the personification of love and compassion – tens of millions of animals around the world are slaughtered each year?

I wonder if that is how Jesus wanted his life to be celebrated.