On Cheesecake and Cherokee Tales

First, vegan chocolate peanut butter cheesecake with chocolate graham cracker crust and a sliver of dark chocolate, topped with cream. I definitely have to work on my slicing, plating and photographing of pies, but a crappy photo is better than nothing. After having made a dozen pies in a month, my most important advice is to make the pie an entire day before you need it. When it has chilled for 24 hours it is perfection. And though the dark chocolate is a great idea, it makes it difficult to cut into the pie without making a mess. Everyone ended up picking up their cream-topped dark chocolate with their fingers and eating it separately. But since it was so yummy and this particular dinner was hardly formal, no one cared.

The Cherokee tale, sent to me by a child advocate I adore, is helpful for anyone working for social change, as is his personal commentary:

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.  He said, "My beloved grandson, the battle inside every person is between two wolves. One wolf is Evil. It is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, pessimism and negativity.
The other wolf is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, compassion, optimism and faith."

The grandson thought for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee gently grasped the boy’s shoulder, looked deeply into his eyes, and replied, "The one who wins is the one you feed."

. . .

My 30-year career as an advocate has taught me a few basic lessons, the most important of all is this: Influence does not come by accident.  I urge you to be a voice for others, and for yourself, by expressing your opinions, sharing your experience and passions, and participating in every opportunity to inspire positive change.  When we feed the wolf with positive and effective communications, we all win.

Abraham Lincoln once said "You can’t dip clear water from a muddy stream."  If we are active and assertive, our leaders will respond.  If we are passive and apathetic, they will go their own way, thinking they know best.  Our voices and votes are key ingredients for progress.

It’s disturbing to know that most well-meaning, intelligent people think that considering animals is simply a matter of choice and opinion, and doesn’t reflect on them negatively if they continue to use animals for food, clothing, entertainment and experimentation. Nevertheless, we must continue to be the lone voice in a crowd that says: If we are to evolve to even approach our potential as human beings, that evolution must have a moral component. And that moral component must include nonhuman animals, who have a right to their own lives, and do not exist solely for our use.