Be True, Be Real...............

One December when I was in kindergarten, Santa Claus arrived for our school Christmas party. I ran and hid under a table as soon as he walked in. The principal had to call my mom to ask her to come to school to coax me to come out from under the table. While I remember having a fear of Santa, as I got older I’ve come to realize even as a very young child I had a dislike of liars. My childhood cocoon had already been dashed with the truth that Santa was not real so I could not understand why someone was dressed up as a fake individual and trying to engage children.

In the greyhound world we have a lot of individuals, people on all sides with all views - pro-racing, anti racing and even those who just want to adopt a greyhound and will not get involved with debates or opinions. Most people, regardless of their personal opinion, respect those with differing opinions, especially
when people live a life of beliefs based on true convictions and actions. 

Unfortunately what prompts many to call shenanigans on the “anti-racing greyhound” movement are individuals claiming to be “anti-greyhound racing” yet ignoring facts  and pledging support and donation dollars to an organization touting itself as the flag ship of the “anti-greyhound racing” movement when from its conception one of the organization's co-founders is an individual who breeds dogs, judges dogs and races dogs in competitions that are unregulated by any city/county/state/country and are not required to compile or submit or report any information regarding the number of dogs injured in any capacity in these dog races. And certainly no one will voluntarily admit if and/or expose if there is any illegal gambling is taking place at these unregulated dog races. This organization also has an individual in its ranks that supports and volunteers with an adoption program whose founder brokers the selling of U.S.greyhounds for racing and breeding overseas.

I have said all along it's fine if you choose to be anti-racing. Just do it with true convictions and actions and be informed about the people you support and give donations to. Perhaps your first action should be removing the platforms of the “humane advocate protectors” who have lied yet continue to profit off of your beliefs.

If we can discuss with those of true convictions and actions, those who respect others both as individuals and with different views, imagine the positive work that could be achieved.