Charley Korns
Although I loved the concept of following my bliss, the reality has been a pattern of jobs with little meaning, never leading to anything more fulfilling. In Thailand, however, back in 1994, I experienced a pivotal change of heart.I was in my fourth month of travels in Southeast Asia. Near the end of my two-month stay in Thailand, I read a newspaper story about a man who had devoted his life to working with a program to help educate and train women who had been prostitutes to give them a new lease on life. I was very moved by the story. I decided I wanted to do something to make a positive difference in the world.
Returning to Oregon, I soon sought long-term volunteer work, a contrast to the show-up-for-a-few-hours-and-get-a-T-shirt shifts I’d worked in the past. I was assigned to a Vietnamese refugee family. What started as a weekly tutoring session grew into a friendship that continues to this day, 15 years later. I also facilitated a parents’ support group, helping parents who were abused as children to steer clear of abusing their own children. I ultimately landed in a commitment to help a group promoting plant-based food choices. That was 10 years ago, and I am still involved in a similar group. Through this I became aware of the Institute for Humane Education. I recognized that the IHE program synthesized animal protection and human rights issues, both areas being of great importance to me.
Currently about a third of the way through the master’s program, I’m grateful for the immersion into the course material. Without the program, I would be continuing a mostly random exposure to myriad topics that cross my path. I would not have read most of the books that are required. But it is these books that are moving me to care more about the issues, agitating my emotions, especially what I’m reading currently about the history of animal exploitation and abuse––as sinister now as it has ever been, at least in terms of the scale and mechanization. I am feeling new dimensions of anger, recognizing this energy and desiring to work with it to nourish and refine the educator in me, the activist.
I’ve made some modest changes that I attribute to my studies so far. Last year I started to compost, this year I built a raised garden bed and grew vegetables, and this month I’m replacing my front lawn with native, perennial plants. I paid off my membership in a local food co-op and go there more often; it makes a lot of sense to shop at a co-op that is highly conscious of the source of all its food, carries only organic produce, and sells no meat or fish, other than products for cats and dogs. I am also thinking more about where I buy clothing, visiting thrift stores more often and looking for things that are not made of the most common material, conventionally grown cotton. The IHE program has also helped reinforce my conviction to maintain a healthy, vegan diet, which I started nearly 10 years ago. I think it fits fantastically well with the tenants of humane education, yet even within this diet there are various layers of impact on the environment and the humans who produce the food.
It’s hard for me to imagine what other kinds of lifestyle changes I will make during the rest of the IHE program, but I have a feeling there will be a few more. I have never worked as an educator, yet I know I will feel more qualified and passionate after completing the program. I can easily picture working in an educational capacity for a nonprofit organization. What motivates me is knowing that many people are just one book, one film, or one presentation away from making a change that will help relieve animals and humans of unnecessary suffering. There’s a Goethe quote I’ve admired for many years, the spirit of which I trust will soon embrace me on my new path:
“The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”
Most Good & Least Harm Talk by Zoe Weil - Orono, Maine
March 16, 2010 - 2:00 pm | Location: University of Maine - Orono (100 Neville Hall)
Please join us for an inspiring talk with Zoe Weil at the University of Maine in Orono. Co-sponsored by the Peace Studies and Sociology departments. Learn about the ways in which your everyday choices, your work, your activism, and your volunteerism can do the most ...
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March 16, 2010 - 2:00 pm | Location: University of Maine - Orono (100 Neville Hall)
Please join us for an inspiring talk with Zoe Weil at the University of Maine in Orono. Co-sponsored by the Peace Studies and Sociology departments. Learn about the ways in which your everyday choices, your work, your activism, and your volunteerism can do the most ...
Read More