My Easter Rant

Keisha is asleep beside me. Barney is purring on my lap, fully contented to simply be with me. Thoughts of the love of Jesus and the incredibleness of His sacrifice are rumbling around in my brain. My heart is heavy with the pain in the world, full of the joy of knowing my sweet Saviour, and warm with the love of my family, both those I share my genes with and those whose name I will soon carry. In this bubble of cat purring and dog snoring and train whistling by outside I wish I could insulate myself. I wish I didn't have to think about the atrocities happening around me on this lovely Easter day. But if I don't think about them, if they don't touch my heart, I can do absolutely nothing to stop them. If, however, I lend a bit of my mental energy to at least some of them, perhaps I can make some small difference in this crazy world. 

So, as those of you who know me well probably already know, there is an issue I want to talk about. I'll try to keep it brief...

The issue is.... Soap. More specifically liquid soap. More specifically still liquid soap whose components are tested on animals. 

Now, before you write me off as a left wing PETA person please hear me out on this! The past two weeks or so my lab partner and I have been doing a project on the chemicals that are in our soaps... And I am horrified. Why? Because the terrible effects that the chemicals had on animals were completely discounted! 

Chemicals are placed strait up into rabbits eyes. Rats are forced to ingest obscene amounts of chemicals. And other stuff. I'm going to stop with that because you are perfectly capable of doing your own research. The government document that I eventually dug up (yes it is legit) detailed the things they did. It listed the terrible reactions the animals had to the chemicals. And then it dismissed them with: No Further Testing Recommended. Their final conclusion was that in spite of mutations, paralysis, blindness and even death, the results they saw were not indicative of what could happen to humans. 

Do you know what your largest organ is? Hint: its not your liver, intestines, heart or lungs. It is your skin. If these chemicals that are in nearly every name brand and off brand product cause disaster for animals, do you not think you could be in danger putting them on your skin? 

I propose to you some very simple changes starting with awareness. Research. LOOK what is in your shampoo, body wash and shaving cream/gel and then research it! 

I personally have simply switched to using all chemical free bar soap for everything. Shampoo, body wash, shaving cream... it works beautifully! I rinse my hair with apple cider vinegar and water as conditioner and it is shiny and smooth and I love it. 

So that is what's on my mind right now and I will tell you why. I closed my eyes and I thought about Jesus. I thought about His gentleness. I thought about how that wild young donkey let Him ride it with no problem. There is absolutely no way you will ever convince me that Jesus would put chemical into a rabbit's eye. Does that mean using chemicals tested on animals is wrong? Probably not, but if I'm completely honest I will tell you that I believe that we will each answer to God for how we handle His creation. 

So, this Easter day I leave you with this: Jesus died so that ALL may be free and live!! Can we as His children turn a blind eye to the pain around us whether it is human or animal suffering? I really think not! I'm not asking anyone to become an activist or fight to free all lab animals. What I am asking is that each of you give some thought to what you put on your body and in your hair and consider what the history of your products may be.