To the editor:

The upcoming holidays will bring families and friends together to share meals and to give thanks for our many blessings. It is ironic that while the emotional centerpiece of our holidays is love and togetherness, the centerpiece on our table is most often a dead animal who wanted nothing more than to live his or her own life in peace, surrounded by his or her family. Instead, that animal suffered in a factory farm and died a long and painful death on an assembly line of knives, saws, electrical shocks and other forms of slow torture.

Let us make the connection in our hearts and souls during these upcoming holidays of peace, love and joy. Let us expand our circle of compassion to include the most innocent and helpless of all God’s creatures. By granting life to a pig, a cow, chicken or turkey this holiday season, we bring more love and compassion into the world and do our part to end violence and create peace.

Judy Carman,

McLouth