You people need to give the dogs some credit. Some people are saying Pete is a hero, and I'm inclined to agree, but what about the dogs? Pete has made some tough choices. He probably knows that doing these undercover ops will change him as a person and he'll probably have nightmares for the rest of his life. That's some dark shit and he's taking on a pretty big karmic debt for doing it. I think that's heroic.

I also think it's heroic for the dogs who get abused in the documentary. Dogs can make choices too. Why else would we feel akin to them? Sure the dogs probably don't fully understand what's going on, but they're taking on some heavy suffering so other dogs don't have to. I say stop treating them like Poor Little Fluffy Muffins and give those damn dogs a medal!

To the letter writer:

I support the idea of volunteering, but only when you feels ready to do so. To volunteer you must make social contacts with volunteer organizations: not easy for social phobics.

Suicide is a lousy option. Based on the strongest evidence we have, there is no heaven, no hell, and no oblivion. There is just what is here. Kill yourself and where do you go? Right back into the universe where you started! Except now you're in a world filled with more sadness than the one you left. This sadness that permeates the world is often hard to perceive, but it doesn't go away. It will continue to bother you in all future liftimes, like the small noise of an insect when you're trying to sleep. No matter how many times you kill yourself the situation just gets worse. So what do you do? Make this lifetime the one where you turn the tides!

Here's a very basic plan:

1. Eat more vegetables.

2. Take an hour walk every morning, no matter how crappy you feel.

3. Learn how to do breathing meditation. Do it for twenty minutes every day after the walk.

4. Continue learning. With the help of trained professionals experiment with drugs, therapies, exercises, yoga, etc. If you're only 36 then you haven't had enough time to try every cure in the world, so you can't know that they all don't work.

Stick with these four for the rest of your life and you'll feel much better. The fact that you don't have to work is a blessing. You can do five times the research of a working stiff! And everything you learn about helping yourself will be equally helpful to others. Start tomorrow and good luck.

Vegans are like monks. Monks abstain from worldly pursuits because they see a problem with the system, and then they lead by example. "Look at us!" the monks say. "We don't own anything and yet we're completely happy!" This isn't to say we should all run out and become monks, but we can take a few of their lessons and apply them to our daily lives. Spend less, give more to charity, meditate, etc.

In cases like LW, I have to ammend my first sentence to say this: I wish vegans were more like monks. Many vegans fit LW's self description; they are shrill, depressed, and insular. Or they are manically happy, humorless, and robotically programmed to Talk Up Veganism. This is horrible advertising for the movement. Why should I stop eating meat when the end result appears to be a serious case of the crazies?

Happy monks make great advertising. Grumpy vegans do not. There are many good arguments for veganism, but no argument can mask the fact that veganism is a drag. This isn't to say vegans should throw wild keggers or wear sexier hemp clothes. I mean, if the spirit moves you, then by all means... but more importantly vegans like LW should undergo what Robert Thurman calls an "Inner Revolution". It'll be good for their emotional stability as Cary suggests, but also stellar advertising.

...a punn on "to the surface". There is no colon.

Just helping keep the joke alive!

Dear LW,

I agree with Cary that it's important to find that strong, quiet mind that thinks in years, decades, lifetimes. Following your frantic mind you can frantically jump from school to school, job to job, person to person for your whole life. You might get lucky and land in a good situation, but eventually the stress will find you in the form of pollution, war, famine, death of loved ones, etc.

Stress is weird. It's like a fire we try to put out with gasoline. We think, "I'll go here, do this, choose that, buy this, sell that." In our imagination we are pouring water on the flame. But guess what? All those thoughts are not water. They're gasoline!

Nobody has any water. We can only let the stress burn itself out. You might think your options are MBA or no MBA, but really your option is stress or no stress. Gasoline or no gasoline. Doing "no stress" is the only way to stop feeding the fire. You can do "no stress" in the business world (especially since most don't) or you can do "no stress" in Maine as a painter. You can do "no stress" in the midst of a panic attack. Just let it burn. No more gasoline.

What does that mean practically for your decision? I don't know. If there is a withdrawal deadline for this semester then you need to keep that in mind. From now until that deadline practice doing "no stress". That doesn't mean skip class or stop working. Just do them without stress. This takes practice, but once you get a taste for it you'll get better at choosing from a "no stress" position. Even if your deadline is in ten minutes, use those ten minutes to practice and then make your choice. Then make another and another and eventually you'll get the hang of it.