It’s not until we get older that we think about how short our lives really are; at least I didn’t when I was younger. Now days seem to go by at the speed of hours and my yearly physicals don’t seem a year a part. Throughout the journey we call our lives we seem to always move towards what makes us happier and thereby define ourselves. Some of us find happiness by bringing joy to others and some find happiness in bringing pain and discomfort to others. Some of us find it by working with others and some by dominating others and again so define our long weekend on planet Earth.
As for me, I feel I chose to come here to bring joy and happiness to other sentient beings and for a long time I thought I was alone in this way of thinking.
I’m going to be 63 in a few weeks and for as long as I can remember I’ve taken action to protect animals from us. Like many of us I did this instinctively and in solitude until I met Cleveland Amory back in the 1960’s, the first and greatest animal activist.
It was like yesterday, the first time I met Cleveland Amory some 42 years ago. I was about 20 years old when I read an ad in a magazine entitled “Real Women Wear Fake Furs” with four beautiful women wearing fake furs. Well, until that point in my life I hadn’t heard about anyone who felt as I do, I couldn’t stop looking at the ad. It hit me like nothing else ever before, I realized I wasn’t alone.
I quickly called the phone number at the bottom of the page (I actually have tears in my eyes as I write this). A voice answered and I explained my overwhelming feeling about the ad. He said he was Cleveland Amory and asked was I able to get to 140 West 57th Street in NYC. I ran to the train station near my home in the Bronx and couldn’t wait to meet the only person in the world (so I thought) that felt as I did about all animals. I just always knew I didn’t just belong to a race of humans, but instead to a race of sentient beings and that it was right that the strong should protect the weak. At the time I couldn’t articulate it but I definitely felt it.
After the train ride into Manhattan, I ran looking for 140 West 57th Street next to the Russian Tea Room (Cleveland’s landmark). When I got there I expected an office building, instead it was a residential building. I found Cleveland’s apartment on the register in the lobby, it was on the 7th floor. I ran up the stairs, I couldn’t wait for the elevator. When I knocked on the door a very tall man looked down to me and said, Tom. My life changed that day as if someone helped me up to a new level of being. I knew that day why I was here and how I needed to spend my time. I knew I could never be truly happy until all sentient beings were afforded life, liberty and a pursuit of happiness (sentient justice) and it was up to a special group of humans to make that happen.
I’ve always felt a special bond with that kind of humanity and I’ve guided my life in the pursuit of spreading that enlightenment.
Well, through the years Cleveland and I spent many productive times, worked together and exchanged many ideas until his death in 1998. I cherish every moment and every memory and I know he is proud that I am one of the founders and first President of the no kill Hudson Valley SPCA formerly the Newburgh SPCA. Cleveland Amory was the founder of the Fund for Animals and for more than 30 years its major contributor and CEO and he was my friend.
Since you have come to our website taken the time and interest to read this message, I’m fairly certain you are part of that special group of humans – we have a bond.
