“Fortuitous” is the word that I would use to describe the lead-up to my meeting with Gene Baur. When we had talked previously on the phone, our possible meeting was more of an abstract than a firm appointment. The date, time, and location had not been defined. Within a couple of days of my return, the time and date were set; three PM on Friday January 8th. The location was left for me to decide. Unfortunately my command of California geography is limited, even when it comes to Palo Alto which is a neighboring city, so I had to look on-line for ideas. On my first query, I identified a restaurant called Loving Hut which seemed to fit the bill. They were exclusively Vegan, shared a similar world-view, and had a snazzy website. I gave Krysta the location and requested that she pass it on to Gene.
Call me a skeptic, but I couldn’t feel comfortable about meeting Gene at a restaurant that I hadn’t personally vouched for, so I felt the need to check it out for myself on Wednesday. I know, I shouldn’t question that great and mighty internet, but there is some stuff out there that is a little below the board. There is also the issue of my poor navigation skills, so having driven there once I would be less likely to get lost on the big day. Using Mapquest, I was easily able to get to within a block of the restaurant. The last block proved a little tricky since the directions said to stay to the left at the exit, which resulted in me heading the wrong way down University Avenue until I could turn around. Did I mention that the information on the internet is not always 100% reliable? Finding a parking spot was surprisingly easy and the restaurant was easy to spot, so I shrugged off the wrong turn.
When I walked in there was only one other patron at the front table by the window. She appeared to be working on her laptop and never did look up the whole time I was there. The place looked clean, which is always nice, and there was a big-screen TV playing environmental messages in many languages. I was offered a menu and took a seat at the table next to the register. I was interested in the pamphlets and brochures that they had there and, after picking my meal, I thumbed through a few of them. I was intrigued by the pictures of the happy farm animals since many of them looked familiar. Flipping to the back I had my suspicions confirmed; they were credited to Farm Sanctuary.
This got me wondering whether they would be interested in any Farm Sanctuary literature. I made a mental note to bring some along on Friday to see if they would let me leave it with them. Anyway, I had to get back to work shortly, so it was time to return my focus to my food. The curry was very good and I felt very comfortable with hosting Gene here based on my experience. It is always better to be sure than to rely on luck. I praised the food, committed to return again, and then retraced my route back to the office.
When I got home I started thinking about Gene’s trip out here. He was going to be in California for a series of speaking engagements, one of which was open to the public at Stanford University on Thursday. I looked it up on-line and learned that it would be hosted by the Ethics Department and would be part of a series on the ethics of food production. Since I had an empty calendar, I decided to check it out, even if it would mean relying on Mapquest again.
On Thursday afternoon I left work a little early in order to make sure I would find my way to the speech in time. I had hoped to have one of my friends from work come with me, since he had previously expressed interest in the topic, but he cancelled his attendance so it was just me. The presentation was to start at 4:45 and, in true Brian form, I was there an hour early, even after getting lost on campus. The classroom that would be used for the presentation was still in use for a class, so I waited in the hall and felt distinctly old. I had worn one of my many Farm Sanctuary themed shirts, hoping to stand out as a familiar face. While I would expect a Bay Area school to be friendly to Farm Sanctuary’s message, you never know. I found a seat and read “Eternal Treblinka” while waiting for the rest of the audience to arrive.
My “Walk for Farm Animals” shirt was noted by Gene as I had hoped and the presentation began in short order. I was familiar with a lot of the information because I had read Gene’s book and a number of others related to the cause. It is always different though to hear someone relate their experiences first hand rather than just reading about them. I found myself alternating between listening, speculating on the animals in the pictures (Hey, that looks like Cupid!), and watching the audience response. The attendees ranged from college age, to old folks like me, and folks older than me. They all seemed genuinely engaged and interested which made me happy.
After the main presentation was completed, there was a question and answer session for the last thirty minutes. Some of the questions were touching, like the young man who worked in a local restaurant who felt that his clients were being misled by terms like “free-range” and “organic” and was looking for guidance in how to deal with this. Others fell into the “trap” category such as, “What would we do with all the animals on the farms if people stopped eating them?” or comments like, “Wild animals are mean; how would we be able to deal with them?” In my opinion, these two questions are either ignorant, or deliberately ignorant so as to be provocative.
As much as conscience driven Vegans dream of a tomorrow without animal cruelty at the hands of factory farming, none of us expect this to literally happen tomorrow. The best case scenario is that we would gradually reduce the numbers of animals needlessly slaughtered from ten billion per year in the US to a smaller and smaller number. On a trajectory like that, the effect of an end to eating animal products does not result in ten billion discarded animals. Unfortunately, the horrific flip-side to this is that we will continue to live in a society which has such a low value of life that these number will continue to rack up from now until the day when meat is no longer for dinner and we stop suckling at the teat of other animals.
My response to the “wild animals are mean” line of reasoning is a resounding, “So!” People are mean in so many ways, but that doesn’t give us license to kill and eat them, wear their skins, equate them to garbage, or stand-by while others do so. No animal can challenge man for his vast accomplishments in cruelty and heinous disregard to his own species and to others, so “mean”, when it comes to animals, pales in comparison to what we as a species have demonstrated the capacity for.
Well, given all the bad press that American schools get nowadays, I guess I should be impressed that the kids could form a complete sentence. Once the session was over, I opted to stick around to introduce myself. I figured that doing so today would make it a lot easier for Gene to identify me on Friday. Since there was a line of people wanting to ask more questions, I was brief with it and made my way back to my car.
By now it was about 6:30 and I was getting hungry. Since it would take me an hour to get home, I decided to stop by my new favorite Vegan restaurant again. I had my Farm Sanctuary pamphlets and brochures in the car and it would give me a chance to drop them off. Now that I knew where I was going, I found the place easily. I had a nice long discussion with the restaurant manager about Farm Sanctuary’s mission, and shared some of the hand-outs before asking to leave some with her. She had no issue with me leaving them in the rack with the others, and she even kept some for herself. I explained that I would be back the next day with the President and co-founder if she had any more questions, and then sat down with a menu. As I looked around, I was somewhat dismayed to see that there weren’t more people here. This time it was just me! Most Vegans are firm believers that if the rest of the world actually tried Vegan dishes they would change their minds about the taste and variety of choices available. If this restaurant didn’t have better business it may not survive long enough to win over converts. After ordering my food, I was happy to see a few more people come in.
That was when my fortunes improved again. Shortly after they arrived, one of the group members, Elizabeth, invited me to join them. It turns out that the Bay Area Vegetarian Club meets here the first Thursday of every month, and I had unwittingly stumbled upon a meeting. Over the next couple hours I had the chance to meet about ten other people who participate in these get-togethers, and we had a chance to chat about pets, Gene’s presentation, and our jobs. All in all it was a good and unexpected evening and I look forward to going back next month.
Anyway, back to my original topic: My meeting with Gene. Defying all my instincts, I managed to tear myself away from my beloved cubicle a little early on Friday to make sure I would be there on-time. You really can’t be too careful. A rogue earthquake, a 1,000 car pile-up, and alien invasion, all of these could try to thwart my fifteen mile drive. As it was, none of these happened and I found myself early once again. This came in handy when I had more difficulty finding parking than had previously been the case. After taking all of ten minutes to find a suitable spot, I had only an hour left to walk the one hundred feet to the restaurant. Talk about cutting it close!
After touring the local shops, twice for good measure, I made my way back to the Loving Hut to make sure that I would be early. After arriving so darn early, it wouldn’t be wise to somehow manage to be late and make a bad impression. Gene arrived a few minutes early and we greeted each other on the street (My idea of introducing myself the night before was paying off already) before going into the restaurant. I was happy to see that many of the pamphlets and brochures that I had dropped off had been picked up. The manager asked for more, particularly the ones for Farm Animal Adoptions, and I promised to come back with more. I briefly introduced her to Gene who was behind all of the Farm Sanctuary movement before we sat down. Gene ordered soup and a drink and I opted for just a drink (Although they were nice enough to give me a complimentary cup of soup).
I don’t recall having any heroes growing up. Sure, I may have thought I would love to live like one of my rock star idols, but I wouldn’t consider them “heroes”. This would be my first time meeting a hero of mine, and I was admittedly anxious as to whether or not I would be able to hold up my end of the conversation. I had even expressed so much in my e-mails with Krysta. Well, it was time to find out. Honestly, the conversation was very comfortable and easy-going, which was a relief. Gene asked about how I heard about Farm Sanctuary, and I told him my story.
I shared how during the summer I had decided that I was tired of feeling like my life was passing me by and feeling somewhat adrift in a world without meaning or excitement. I talked about my sky-diving adventure, my glider experience, my shark-diving, et al. Throughout my search for life in adrenalized form, I kept feeling the pull from a chance encounter with Coco and the animals at Farm Sanctuary. When faced with the choice of identifying myself as a skydiver, a glider pilot, or any other thrill-seeking title, I decided that the label of compassionate animal friend was the one I would prefer. I had found what I was looking for in an unexpected place, and I was hooked. I told him about how I had researched the group on-line, looking for both sides of the story, because I needed to know exactly what I was getting involved with. Once I make a commitment, I am loyal forever, so I didn’t want to commit without confidence that the group was what it claimed to be.
I went on to talk about some of my experiences with Farm Sanctuary so far: The Walk for Farm Animals, Thanksgiving for the Turkeys, visits with my adopted animals, and volunteering at the farm. I explained how our bad connection when he had called me before was the result of him choosing a farm site with poor reception. We both laughed at that one. Prior to our meeting, I had printed out my writings on what Farm Sanctuary means to me and I gave him a copy to read. I hoped it would be interesting for him to see his group through the eyes of a recent convert. I was also very proud of my “Letter to the Editor” which was printed in the San Jose Mercury News:
“I, for one, am sick of the polarizing debate over man-made global warming. While I am somewhat of a skeptic, I feel that the issue clouds the fact that we can do a better job of global stewardship regardless of whether it changes the climate. In the New Year, I would challenge us all to avoid polarization and find ways to do what's right because it is the right thing to do. Try Veganism (Even one day a week makes a difference), adopt a farm animal (Check out farmsanctuary.org) and learn more about how our food affects the environment, carpool, and most importantly - think more about how the way we live our lives can make a difference.”
He graciously accepted my writing and promised to read it on the plane back since he had other obligations that night.
Then we talked about some of the questions that were asked during the speech the night before, and I shared my opinions on them. Gene talked about his recent move to Washington, D.C. and some of the challenges the organization will be taking on in the coming year. In light of all of the political pressures against them, I had been curious about whether there were any political allies that were out there so I asked. I was glad to hear that there were at least some people who were on board, but the hard part would be finding some real power players who aren’t beholden to the status quo. That sounds like a tall order, but I will keep the faith.
I expressed my desire to get more involved and hinted that I would love to work for Farm Sanctuary at some point (It was more “nudge-nudge” than outright). We talked about how small things can make a difference and I explained my “T-Shirt Friday”. Every Friday I wear an animal rights themed T-shirt to work. Often times it is a Farm Sanctuary one, but since there are limited designs, I augment with others. I related how earlier in the day, I had a discussion with someone at the copier who had asked questions based on my shirt, and how it had allowed me to make a connection. In this case, the co-worker that I had talked to was sensitive to animal cruelty in factory farming and had been inspired by the anti-veal campaign to stop eating beef. He explained how he only eats chicken now. After congratulating him on his decision not to eat beef, I had explained the suffering that chickens endure and the fact that almost ten billion per year are killed for food in the United States alone. We talked for probably twenty minutes on the topic. I don’t know for sure whether he will be making any lifestyle changes based on our talk, but if he stopped eating beef out of conscience, he may choose to do the same with chicken.
In any case, it was an example of how I could have an influence without being too overt in the workplace. I explained how these shirts were like my uniform in the Navy in that they encouraged me to be the best person I could be since I was representing a cause that I was passionate about and which I felt like an ambassador for. We discussed Lori’s slow conversion and my dream that someday my parents would give it a try. We also talked about how Farm Sanctuary represents an ideal, a world in which no animal suffering occurs at the hand of man, and how there are many steps along the path from here to there.
I mentioned how I had experienced difficulty relating to Lori and my parents at times, but how I had decided that I needed to give them credit for any steps that they took along their respective paths. To pull away would not allow us to continue a dialogue, or let me share my tales which may inspire them to continue along the path.
Realizing that after an hour and fifteen minutes our time was running short, I asked Gene if we could get a picture. He was very accommodating, as was the gentleman seated next to us who snapped it for me. Unfortunately, whoever was using our work camera last (I had forgotten to bring my own) had set it on a medium resolution setting, but the picture came out fine. I have added it to my “Farm Sanctuary” wall, where it sits among all my adopted animal friends and the rest of the farm friends who I have had the pleasure of meeting. These occupy the space in my office which previously housed my Lego collection. While I loved my Legos, they don’t make me as happy as my farm memories do, so they have been usurped from their space.
I certainly hope to have the chance to meet Gene again, but in the meantime I am going to continue to look for ways to make a difference in my world and do my best to set an example for those who know me. That way I can hold my head up high and proud when our paths cross again. Thanks Gene Baur.
