My stepfather used to be a clown in The Shrine Circus. He took me backstage when I was 23. I saw three elephants chained to the cement floor in the warehouse of the Michigan State Fairgrounds. Sadness, hopelessness and fear were emanating from their eyes, from their bodies. They were swaying neurotically from side to side. A monkey was screaming in his cage, grabbing the bars of his prison. Two tigers were pacing feverishly in their tiny cages. Cruelty was staring me in the face. I knew something was wrong. If you pay attention to energy, you can tell when a fellow being is in peril.

Veganism can resurrect Eden and create heaven on Earth. We can have a place where humans view animals in awe, and animals view humans with a curious aloofness.

It's not about loving animals. It's about fighting injustice. My whole goal is for humans to have as little contact as possible with animals.

It's time to reconnect to the natural world for the sake of the animals, and our collective conscience. Because without spiritual health there can be no physical health.

Religion, media and schools tell us to disregard animals, view them as commodities, property and resources, and convince us that animals cannot think clearly, nor act morally or altruistically, nor experience love and hatred, or kindness and terror, in the same way that we can.

The propaganda machine keeps on churning out lies and deceit. And the obedient, unthinking, apathetic people in our society keep accepting it.

Our society pushes "family" because once people have families, the chance of becoming active lessens.