MLK Jr. Day / Meat Free Monday

HH The Dalai Lama, Coretta Scott King and Dexter King 2006

Each 3rd Monday is a national holiday in the United States, celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Many of us have heard or read his famous, “I Have A Dream” speech. Click on the title and you and your older kids can listen to the speech. 

One of my favorite quotes of Dr. King's is this one, from an anti-Vietnam war speech he gave in 1968:

“On some positions cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’

Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ 

Vanity asks the question, ‘Is it popular?’ 

But conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’

And there comes a point when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right.”

 -Martin Luther King Jr.

This is the perfect day to discuss what this means with your children. Who MLK, Jr. was, what he did, what segregation was, what racism is, and how these things affect us today.

Martin Luther King, Jr, died at 39 years old. It hardly seems possible, does it? Yet he accomplished so much, and like his hero Mahatma Gandhi, he did it emphasizing compassion and nonviolence. Ahimsa.

Dr. King's son, Dexter, later took that philosophy a step further and became a vegan, as did his mother. Coretta Scott King was a vegan the last 15 years of her life. 

I'm not asking you to be a vegan, or for you or your children to be vegetarians - although if you're leaning that way, I think it's a great idea. I am suggesting that you consider going 'meat free' once a week - for your health, for the environment, and to give a few animals a break. 

Since this is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and Meat Free Monday - how about deliberately having at least one meatless meal, and talking with your kids about why you're doing it?

I'd love to hear your comments.
Kristin  ♡

It's Sunday - What's your Meat Free Monday Plan?

I don't know what mine is yet, but it will have to do with omelets for breakfast, probably a Trader Joe's salad for lunch and Indian food for dinner.

I'll update this on Monday.

But keep it in mind and share if you have any tentative ideas for Meat Free Monday!

Thanks for reading!
Kristin

Let's *Finally* Join The McCartney's With Meatless Mondays.

The McCartney's Meat Free Monday Website

I was driving though Laurel Canyon last night and heard Jackson Browne singing, "Oh Lord - Are there really people starving still??" It burned into me. That was 1976.  Thirty-five years ago. Seriously? 

Seriously. Many of us have dabbled in vegetarianism or veganism, only to revert back to our carnivorous ways for various reasons. There's no reason why we can't join the Meatless Mondays campaign. There are several of them, actually.

We all know the reasons to at least cut back on meat consumption, aside from animal cruelty issues, which are obvious and which we all try not to think about, or think of as the price of being at the top (more or less) of the food chain - with a conscience.

If every family would cut back one day a week, four days a month, 52 days a year, there would be a startling positive impact on the planet, on our own health, and help address those "people starving still."

Johns Hopkins' Meatless Monday Website

Meat is such a wasteful way to get our nutrients - the water, the land necessary to raise all those animals... I don't think I need to go into all the stats about that here. Click on either of the links above and you can learn all the scientific reasons reducing meat intake is a good idea.

And Meatless Monday is actually catching on. Some school and hospital cafeterias, including those at UC Davis and Yale now have meat free Mondays. It's a movement!

Let's do it. It can't be that hard. We all have meat free days, we just need to think about it a little more and schedule them for Mondays, then share with our families, friends and coworkers, people in the market, the restaurants we frequent, etc., what we're doing.

Let the kids (spouses, room-mates) get involved in choosing their favorite meat free dishes. Put it on the calendar so that it's a 'thing' to look forward to.

If you need ideas to get you started, click on the links above, but you probably already have enough vegetarian meals in your repertoire to get started.

HuffPostGreen, which I'm more than a little embarrassed to admit I just discovered, has a great weekly Meatless Monday section with recipes, too.

In fact, I just added a Meat Free Mondays page to this blog (up top), starting with what we're eating today. Tell me what you're doing on your meatless Mondays. Inspire me!

If you don't start today, don't worry. Try to aim for next week.

By the way, I lied on my new Meat Free Mondays page, already. I'm not eating cereal this morning. I'm just chomping on trail mix, and I have to go shopping if I'm having a bagel sandwich, which I may... but you get the idea.

Meat with mine, please. 

Alright, I have to go feed the cat (who will not be participating in Meat Free Mondays) and put on a sweater and/or turn up the heat. It may be Hollywood, but it's freaking cold in here! And dang if I didn't just think that I chipped a tooth or something. I just chewed on a piece of hard nut shell in my trail mix. That blows - 'Ralph's Mt. High Raw Mix!'  I think I will have that Special K.

Let me know how it goes...  ; )
Good luck.

Kristin
   ♡