Concerning the Slaughter of Baby Seals
An Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Canada

I cannot understand the brutal slaughter of these defenseless seals and how any human being can take a club to a baby seal while it's mother watches and can do nothing. How can they live with themselves after such an act? How would they feel if, God forbid, someone came into their homes and into their nursery and clubbed their baby to death in front of them? The human parent would not let it happen. The human parent would defend that child with his or her very own life. The mother seal cannot do this. She is without the power to do this. Instead she watches her baby suffer and, yes, she feels unbelievable sorrow. Do you think because she is not human she does not feel sorrow? How arrogant we humans can be in this respect—to assume that animals do not feel pain or sorrow.

Somewhere down the line the consequences of this act will come to fruition in a negative way for our planet and for mankind. The slaughter of baby seals is wrong. If we keep on destroying God’s most precious creatures, we’ll feel it in the end—somehow, someway we’ll learn the error of our ways. There are so many good people on this earth within every country and within every society, and it would be a shame for the goodhearted to suffer the consequences of the coldhearted.

I am not a obsessively religious person, but I am an innately caring person, and during my journey through life I have never forgotten the quotation “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth”. I believe there are many variations of this in religious texts of all faiths. As a child I heard the words and they became important to me. And whenever or wherever I witnessed a brutality toward an animal I repeated the words in my mind. Even then I understood the magnitude of such acts and I felt guilty for being human. As an adult I became acutely aware of the atrocities committed by mankind over the years. These atrocities cannot be undone, but I believe a counterbalance can be and will be achieved by kindly people around the world.

I am begging you, Prime Minister, please be a part of the solution and not an obstacle. Please call off the seal hunt now.

My husband didn't exactly like the Hobbit. We watched it last night. If you are one of his FB friends you can visit and see what he had to say about it. Such profanity! But, I agree. I have a good mind to write a lengthy review of this movie comparing it to the book. Unfortunately I have to go to work tomorrow. But my mind is still boggled so I will generate a small critique . All I can say is the architects of this supposed adaptation of Tolkien’s The Hobbit did not handle it with the same care and insight they gave to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I was terribly disappointed. I did not like how the dwarves were portrayed. First of all, in the book, Thorin Oakenshield was among the oldest of the dwarves, so the actor who played Thorin—although easy on the eyes, was therefore not Thorin to me. Second, the breakfast scene in Bilbo’s Hobbit hole, aka his cozy abode, was atrocious and could have been left out all together—they didn’t need the chip the glasses crack the plates scene either. That scene would add nothing to continuity (had there been any). The dwarves were portrayed as crass, sloppy and grotesque. In the book they were a little insensitive at times, but nothing like this crap I saw on the screen. And, the character of Bilbo was not exactly right. Had this first adaptation been put together with more care (I understand there are two more adaptations coming my way), I would have gotten used to him, as he did look like a young Ion Holm. Ion Holm was a good Bilbo, and in the beginning of this movie I was happy to see him reminiscing. Lastly, and the most annoying to me, were the special effects. There were way too many and they were blown out of proportion. What ever happened to simple. What type of audience were they so intent on impressing. I’ve had my say, but I may revisit this diatribe after the next movie. Yes I will have to watch it and no Ray does not have to be present. Oh, yes, one thing I did like—perhaps the only thing other than the short visit to Rivendell—was the singing of Over the Misty Mountains Cold by the dwarves, as in this video—calm, subdued, ominous. This is the impression I had in my in my mind when reading the book. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRUBe2RTq74