The Trial Should Go To the Jury Today
It’s been a 10-year journey to this point, and there’s so much I want to write and say. But I’m furiously working on my closing statement. And so this blog post will be short. I did, however, want to share some important things that have been on my mind this week.
The first is to do things that matter in life. This week has been hard, but fulfilling and meaningful and affirming in ways that I never could have imagined. We all waste far too much time on things that don’t mean a damn — video games, and watching Netflix alone, and all sorts of other meaningless things. Don’t do that. Focus on the things that matter most.
The second is that details matter. I’m struck, this week, by how much of a difference it has made when people do their homework and focus on the details. Most people glide through life without diving deep or seeking true understanding. Those who seek wisdom, or (even more so) change, understand the details. Don’t be lazy. Do your homework and dive deep. Our successes in court have come from this attention to detail — diving carefully through documents and spending the hours to reach true understanding. Yet so few people take the time to dive deep.
The third is that love really does overcome everything. I’ve felt lost and frantic at times, this week. But every time I think of the animals — poor Lily, when she was hobbling in a farrowing crate; my beloved Oliver, when he was scared and furless in a dog meat farm — I have no doubts about what I’m doing, what WE are doing. Apply the same principle to your life — love truly and deeply — and it really does make everything in life easier. Even things that seem impossible to otherwise overcome.
It’s been a joy writing to you all. Depending on how things go today, it could be a long time before I write directly to this blog again.
But, even if this blog becomes a place for Priya and Dean and Ronnie to republish letters and podcast I’ve sent to them by hand, I’ll still very connected to you all.
Thank you for reading. I’m so grateful. And I look forward to writing to you again.
(If you want to follow the latest, there’s a Twitter account devoted just to our trial.)
Good luck today, Wayne! Thanks for caring for the animals so much. You really are the best person I have ever known. #SmithfieldTrial #RightToRescue #Utah
I’ve been an animal liberation activist for 30 years (france bullfighting, animal factories, and in the us, puppy mills, passing pet store laws in over 200 cities) and I always tell the next generation the same thing: “how many people do you think it took to topple the monarchy in my country. France? How many stormed the bastille? “ It is a surprisingly small number, 978. They risked everything and now the palaces are museums that belong to all of us where we can walk in in our muddy shoes. It was the great change that formed a republic, the change that encouraged revolution in the US. A
small number of revolutionaries. WE ANTI-SPECIESISTS ARE REVOLUTIONARIES and the animal liberation movement is in its cradle right now. As a chronicler of our movement, I can state without doubt that you are making history and each significant event such as the Smithfield trial, accumulates over time as we reach into a more humane future. We are playing a long game. Every social justice cause has had events organized and prepared by visionaries and these events, like the lunch sit-ins during the 60s or the bullfight arena jump-ins we staged in france, all of these law defying, risky and righteous events pave the road ahead. Thank you for playing such an important role. We see you, we support you, we acknowledge your sacrifice.