Crazy World News - 8 - Inter species marriage.

First there was the Russian Siberian guy, Boris Gabov, who sought permission by asking the president if he might be permitted to marry his beloved cow claiming that all the girls in the village had left already, moving to the city..

I'm unaware if the president ever replied, but likely this mans ridicule was not nearly as bad as a young Balinese guys, who caught with his pants down with a cow, was consequently forced to marry it by other locals. Apparently he passed out from the humiliation of the ceremony, and his new wife, the innocent victim, was immediately drowned (I thought the Balinese were Hindu and that thus the cow was considered a sacred animal!). I always found the Indonesians to be a majoritively bizarre lot.. (see: The Jakarta Globe).

In a somewhat similar incident, a Sudanese man was also forced into marrying an animal, in his case, it was a goat. Unlike In Bali, it's still possible the couple have remained together. (See: BBC News)

Those last 2 aren't exactly cases of people willingly entering into wedlock with different species, but bizarrely enough, that happens sometimes too.. Just relatively recently a millionairess British woman, and self proclaimed nonpervert, Sharon Tendler, of her own free will, married a dolphin in Israel. (See: Sydney Morning Herald) - How did she know that the dolphin wasn't already married? I thought they were supposed to be monogamous creatures..

Then, over in Taiwan, there's the story of the Taiwanese office worker who unable to find a suitable partner, and tired of waiting, decided instead to marry herself. (See: Taiwanese Woman Marries Self).. She's even honeymooning by herself in Australia.

Then if you think that's weird, there's a Japanese guy, who so engrossed in his virtual make believe fantasy world of some alternate reality game he plays on his Nintendo, has now married his virtual girlfriend.. (See: Japanese guy Marries Virtual Girl).

Enough already? One last one first though:

The most recent example I've seen of clearly one sided obsession that leads some humans to act strangely with mostly full disregard for their objects of desire, is a British guy who is in love with and wishes to marry his christmas tree.. (See: Man In love with Christmas Tree)

Actually, wikipedia even has a page dedicated to human-animal marriages:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-animal_marriage

It would certainly seem to me that in such cases, humans, as per usual, generally have little respect for other species, doing with them as they wish with no real thought or concern given to the welfare or desires of the animal in question..

Questioning greens on a fruitarian diet.

OK.. on the subject of greens, a friend has just emailed the following question: "What i would like to learn is that greens are not only unnecessary, but harmful to human bodies. This would be great information. Do you have an article on this, please paste me a link.". and, also relatively recently, another friend asked me "I'm just wondering if you had a list of reasons as to why greens are not an optimal food for humans? One of my clients keeps saying she is *craving* greens and I highly doubt it..".

OK, the first thing I'd like to establish is that much as I am heavily left brain centric, I consider myself to be more a man of faith than a man of science, and if all you're after is a simple yes/no answer, then I'll cut straight to the chase and tell you I don't know of any scientifically sound writeup as to why greens might be consistently harmful, or either for that matter, why someone might legitimately be craving them.

You've likely heard me quote this before, that Doug Graham once stated that if you eat only fruit, and no nuts, greens etc, you will die, and as far as I know, he also gave no valid explanation as to why he believes that. Personally, I want to make it clear, that being more someone of faith, than science, I don't like to state anything as stone cold fact. I'm just a bod with opinions who blogs them, is all, and I'll be the first to admit that they (my opinions) may not always be correct - even if I stand firm to them, and remain convicted that they are, this doesn't actually make it categorically the case.

Actually, even the so called "scientists" among us, are at heart really people of faith, for at the end of the day, it is in science they place their faith, and we all know how fickle a beast science can be. Some theories may have been reached that are difficult to dispute as fact, but concerning nutritional science, I believe we are barely scratching the surface. If you want to prove that meat is necessary for human consumption, there is internet information that will fully support that theory, blinding you with science to essential amino acids and B12s, and more. If you want to find support for the opposite, that too is out there.. they all try to blind each other with their own brands of science, each one trying to outsmart the other.

My approach is very different. Much as I once absorbed the protein books after turning vegan pushing 25 years ago, being able to recite the 9 essential amino acids names, and state their individual functions and effects their presence (or lack of it) might have upon human physiology, I soon saw that it was effectively all nonsense, and realised the truth is not complex. The truth is simple. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to get nutrition right. That, to me at least, is the truth.

But it's my truth.. my belief, if you will, and I am not robbing anyone else of their free will to find their own, even if it should vastly contradict mine. That is the individuals prerogative.

Back in the 60's there was that big hippy movement, seeing in the advent of supposed free thinking, live and let live, love, peace and flower power.. Unfortunately it came accompanied with its fair share of mind altering drugs and psychedelics, baring with them apathy and a gradual loss of ability to fully think straight, but I believe they were fully on the right track with the love and peace thing.. They saw the innecessity and folly of wars, some realised that we are all brothers and sisters, and one giant family. Others even took another step and embraced compassion for fellow animal species, turning vegetarian, and an even smaller minority likely saw yet beyond that, and adopted vegan diets and lifestyles, avoiding as much as they could all animal suffering. These were awakening people. At least, some of them were.

What they were experiencing was a widening of their circles of compassion. Where we go from initially being predominantly egocentric, to extending an enveloping sphere of love and compassionate protection around immediate family, to experiencing sympathy and empathy for friends and acquaintances, and yet further for members of other races, countries, ethnicities, beliefs, cultures, and supporters of other football teams etc.. Seeing them all as human and worthy of respect and dignity.. Widening the circle yet further, we learn to embrace other species too.. Seeing there is no real logical reason why they, purely based upon their difference of appearance and or intellectual capacities, should be any less respectfully treated and honoured.

The good thing about the circle of compassion, is that it sees no boundaries. One can forever keep extending the outer limits. Looking beyond the mistreatment and abuse of animals inherent throughout most of society as we know it, we can see the destructive effect our presence has on the environment and the rest of nature, and do our darnedest to try and minimise it. In defense of keeping the circle tight, people will often argue that you can't possibly ever encompass everything, and thus it's pointless even trying, but this argument is so irrelevant. Even if there are compromises and things still "get hurt", that is not reason for us to not make efforts and grow through doing so. It does not make us hypocrites if we acknowledge that there are times where our presence is unavoidably linked with the hurt of others. As we grow, we can learn to avoid such situations, not judging each other, but judging actions. Again, I'm not saying that anyone has to live their lives any given way, only stating how I chose to live mine, and how I chose to see mine progressing, and yes, how I believe the world would be better off, if others followed suit.. None of us are perfect, least of all me, (and i speak from experience!) but that should not prevent us from trying to improve ourselves.

Floating like an otter, and hopefully
breaking the monotony of my monologue.

But I've wandered off course from the greens topic. My point is, it is my belief that the old much quoted Beatles refrain "love is all you need" is true. It is love that makes the world go around. Not vitamins, colostrum, glycogens, omega 3s or fat soluble acids.. Even the most hardened cold blooded killers in the animal kingdom, crocodiles and the like, if it were not for love, they too would not survive. See how protectively the mother looks after her hatched young. guarding them with love until they are big enough to fend for themselves. Some might argue that this was some form of instinct, not love, but maybe in such cases, instinct and love are one and the same.. Of course, crocodiles are hardly brimming, bubbling and overflowing with love.. far from it, their circles of compassion barely extend beyond their known family within immediate territorial range, but this still doesn't stop love being the predominant driving force that keeps the species continuing.

Now armed with my "love is all you need" belief, and again, I emphasise the word belief, (because much as I myself stand firmly convinced I'm fully on the right track, I don't really know anything!), I think that taken to it's logical conclusion the universe must work and be at it's most harmonious and gentle, balanced when this principle is fully embraced, accepted and worked upon.

To this end, it would seem natural that we try to minimise the destruction of plant life, as well as animals.. And it would seem that nature has indeed provided us with a way to accomplish such an end, by providing us with the sensory appealing fruit pulp that generally bears within it the seeds of the plant. This appears to me to be the pinnacle of foods, and the only food, as such, that is truly "given". Of course, let's suppose hypothetically one could sustain oneself on minerals, rocks and sand and gritty soil, then that too could be considered as valid ethical fair, but to be sure, nowhere near as appealing!!

I believe the essence of Eden, where all life forms interact and live harmoniously symbiotically side by side in a perfectly natural balance void of medi-evil food chains, hunter/predator, live and let die, survival of the fittest, pecking orders and alpha pack leaders. I cannot fully grasp every final detail, but this does not concern me, I have every faith that the kinks will iron themselves out, and that Eden can and inevitably (the optimist within me!) will become a reality.. at least for those that see fit to let it into their hearts.

I like to think that I am extremely fortunate reaching fruitarianism through predominantly ethical reasons. Having first gone through the revelation call of suddenly waking up to the reality of how animals are used and abused.. Unfortunately probably a good many of raw fooders don't have that same foundation. Many having never fully grasped veganism, and seeking purely benefits to their own health. I won't name any names, but there's a good many outspoken raw fooders, some that many consider leaders in the movement, that still push animal products on the masses, and there's no way their belief system could extend to seeing "just fruit" as a valid choice. Of course they may push their dried fruit potions on us, as super foods and the like, and love fruit too.. but let's face it, they don't even really get raw food. (dried and preprocessed is not raw!).

So what holds us back? because I know that I am not alone in feeling these feelings. I think there's an awful lot of fear involved. people doubt themselves.. they doubt their beliefs and their budding convictions.. they say "what if..?" And they are of course perfectly within their rights to do so.. Having doubts is part of what makes us human. Becoming fruitarian is about taking a leap of faith, because we're ahead of our time, and science is not ready to support us yet. Clearly science is predominantly backed by marketing interests.. Research is rarely done unless there can be some financial gain for someone somewhere, and until that changes, it's unlikely that someone will seriously bother to look into pure fruitarianism, and the way things are at the moment, if someone does, it is more likely that they would do so to discredit and disprove it.. The current powers that be resist change!

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF PLANTS' RIGHTS

Was taken aback and pleasantly surprised to stumble upon this youtube video this morning (thanks Rudolf!):

It seems finally that the silent plight of plants is beginning to be heard. Reflected also, I believe by the increasing awareness among some of the truth of a fruit diet.

With the advent of humans on the scene, with likely especial emphasis on the most recent centuries of our existence, indiscriminate killing of plants, probably more fittingly labeled as "plant genocide", has become a global phenomenon. Even in the mid 80s when I turned Vegan, I remember reading a PeTA pamphlet that declared that rain-forest the area of Denmark (a country I was coincidentally living in at the time) was being felled each year, and although I no longer follow closely such saddening statistics, I have little doubt that the trend continued, and dread to think of the devastation and environmental plant destruction caused within the past 2 and a half decades alone.

Also, apparently, recently, the Swiss Government's Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology concluded that plants are worthy of some rights, and that they should be treated appropriately. A majority of the panel concluded that "living organisms should be considered morally for their own sake because they are alive."

So I immediately began wondering if this Ethics committee, and the authors of this declaration of plant rights could themselves be fruitarian, as to me, it seems that such a lifestyle would be the most compatible with someone who truly sympathises with the injustices plants are generally subjected to.

But after a little further research, including reading this less than favourable review of the Swiss Ethics group's conclusion written up and published a while back in the Weekly standard: Here. I noticed the immediate honing in on the discrepancy of the example given about the farmer who is harvesting monocrops as a supposedly ethically acceptable action, whereas were he to destroy wayside flowers, this would be considered morally wrong. Of course, clearly this team of philosophers haven't fully grasped the subject at hand, and still wish to justify their bread and cakes.

No, I'm not trying to say that through adopting a fruitarian lifestyle, harm to plants would cease. At least, surely not initially, but certainly I have no doubts it could be greatly lessened. Much of a fruitarians fair obtained commercially is grown through very destructive farming methods, perhaps especially the annual monocrops of tomatoes and cucumbers. And to be sure, some degree of "weeding" will likely be necessary for a good while longer. I'm not in denial of any of that, but in the long run, even such annual foods could be grown sustainably, especially if people begin taking responsibility for their own food cultivation to as little or great extent as possible.

Fruitarianism would mean a shift toward fruit tree based agriculture, and ultimately shift the consciousness of humans to make them understand and apply better more biodiverse farming methods that are in harmony with healing the planet from the devastation we've cruelly and ignorantly inflicted upon it. Humans, animals and plants would all ultimately benefit.

Topsy-Turvy World - 16 - Truly Weird Diets

Now if you happen to consider fruitarianism as extreme and radical, perhaps you need to look around you more..

I mean, to me, the real reason why fruitarianism may be viewed as way out there, and unbalanced, is because generally speaking, the average diet of the average citizen has moved so far off the track of sanity, that the garden of Eden diet has suddenly become some whacko weird abnormality.. Whereas  the general run of the mill omnivorous diet has through time adopted a glow of normality that makes it difficult to see beyond it.

Recently a bunch of school kids in the US were taken on a field trip to see how "beef" was produced. Faced with the plain cold bloody goriness of the reality behind their burgers, the trip had to be cut short, with many children left traumatised from the experience.

Traumatized kids after a field trip to a slaughterhouse

From the loading bays, to the pneumatic bolt to the brain stunning process to the blood on the floor and anguished cries from the cows and stress loaded air, to the chained back legs and brutal "bleeding to death" end..

Now that's extreme! Extremely unnecessary! Read more of the pleasant days outing here:

http://newsweak.com/exclusive/school-field-trip-tour-of-slaughterhouse-traumatizes-children

Compare instead a trip to an apple orchard where apples are being harvested.. The kids would potentially have great fun and get home happy without the need for counseling.

OK.. I've just this second been informed via facebook, that newsweak actually provide 100% fictional stories, but fiction or not, the results of such a supposed day trip would likely result in a similar outcome..

But wait! Things can get even more bizarre, people all over the globe eat things that are just so weird it'd make any sane alien wonder just what's wrong with this planet..

I've even heard several reports of human fetuses being a valid culinary fair in certain parts of East Asia..  Apparently they're considered a delicatessen and, obtained through abortion clinics, fetch a high restaurant price. Some of the pictures supplied as evidence for this practise are pretty disturbing so if you search around for it, be warned.. Here's write up I recently stumbled upon..

http://www.weirdasianews.com/2007/04/02/cannibalism-in-china-acceptable-if-for-health/

From an online Swedish newspaper, I also read recently that people are even eating shit medicinally, - And not even their own!

http://www.aftonbladet.se/kropphalsa/mage/article8091641.ab

In my opinion not anywhere nearly as bizarre, in Italy one prized (and illegal!) dish eaten is called Casu Marzu, and is a decomposing sheeps milk cheese, infested with maggots! - Make sure you chew the maggots fully, as apparently they can survive the stomach acid and take up internal residency, -  even making use of diabolical mouth-hooks that can lacerate your stomach linings or intestinal walls as they attempt to drill through your internal organs! Yummy!

Over in China, if you're a russian roulette fan, one can feast on blood clams, they're found on the Shanghai black market at exorbitant prices, and are famed for harbouring hepatitis, typhoid, and dysentery, but only a small percentage (less than 10%), and supposedly delicious, so worth the risk (I think NOT!)..

Maybe in light of such meals, a bowl of strawberries doesn't seem so unappealing?!

Well.. some might point out that pointing from one extreme to another doesn't stop extremes being extreme, and I'm not denying that. I believe humans have somehow fallen from grace, and from living one-time purely natural healthy existences in a garden of eden setting where compassion and love ruled supremely, they have fallen into a deep dark pit of despair anguish and suffering fully reflected by demented food choices.. I do not believe the middle of these 2 extremes is a healthy balance.

What's the best fruit to eat to cure ..... ?

One of the most common questions I get asked from people is "what is the best fruit to eat to help recover from such and such a disease?", or "to receive this or that result?" - Like someone might read of my eye colour change on a fruitarian diet, and then ask me "what's the best fruit to eat to change my eye color?".. or they might have some weird form of ailment, specific type of cancer, or wish to know how best to recover from chemotherapy etc, and they want my advice on what particular fruit would be best for them to eat.

Hanging out on a rock.

Well, firstly I want to state that I'm clearly not a "doctor". Which is really ultimately who you should see if you want something to be prescribed to you.

Secondly, I can really see that anyone asking such questions does not fully get fruitarianism yet.

The thing wrong with the whole specific question "What should I eat?", is that it supposes that somebody somewhere has a better idea of what one should eat than you yourself do. And you are truly mistaken if you think that to be so.

The simplicity of true fruitarianism is that a fruit diet is by it's very nature cleansing and healing, thus whatever it is that might be unsettling you, dis-ease-ing, bothering or generally plaguing you, provided things haven't been pushed beyond a theoretical point of no return, then adopting a fruit only diet will eventually render things right once more. Or as right as the body is capable of becoming..

Thus, if your eyes are brown because of any previously health degrading diet, then eating fruit will eventually clean things up to the point where if you live long enough you're eyes will once more return to the colour they should be..

"How long will that take?" Is the question I then get asked.. But how can I or anyone else possibly know the answer to that? Especially when we all have such specifically differing histories, different ages, states of health, varying genetic backgrounds, different living environments, etc etc. The truth is, changing ones diet to all fruit may still not be solely enough to attain the results one would like to see. For instance, one's eye colour may naturally be brown, and no amount of cleansing will alter that, or ones living and working environment may be so polluted that results may be much slower in occurring, or ultimately hindered or prevented until one makes changes or moves out from whatever circumstances one is in..

About to take a shower.

Live in a clean environment, and adopt a steady fruit diet, and I believe within weeks one will see results already, within months most semi-serious afflictions should be history, and within a year or more, you should be content with your path and singing the praises of the fruit only diet..

But the truth is, there are all manner of obstacles that stand in our way toward that one year goal. - Addiction and cravings being likely foremost, and it is unlikely that few will be capable of adopting and sticking to a purely fruit diet. Then socially we will be under a lot of pressure to stop being stupid and eat more sensibly, and if you don't have strength of character and conviction that what you are doing is right, then of course failure at fruitarianism is a likely result.

Don't take my word for it. I am not really telling you that fruit is right, and will definitely help you out. Quite frankly I don't want that responsibility. This is not to say that I personally don't believe what I'm writing. I have 100% faith in what I talk about, but that still doesn't make me right. Perhaps I have grossly erred. That is for you and you alone to decide..

So back to the specifics.. Why can't I help on which specific fruits are best for any given occasion? Well, the truth is that much as I believe human physiology is basically the same for every individual human on the planet (thus I personally have no doubt that a 100% fruit fruitarian diet is ultimately the correct diet for all humans), the specifics at any given point in time can vary greatly. Thus if I'm hungry right now, and the thing that appeals most is orange juice, then orange juice is what I should eat/drink.. But it would be complete folly for me to think that that is what you need right now too.. You need to go for what your own inner body intelligence and wisdom tells you is right. Don't listen to anyone else.. Not even me. Especially not me, I'm just some has been IBM system programmer..

Taking a shower.

Of course, you might think that macdonalds is what you truly desire, but I am obviously talking within the boundaries of fruitarianism. So when I say eat what appeals most, I mean eat whichever fruit appeals most, and you can be sure (or at least, I can! - it may take a while for you to personally gain such certainty, or you may never do so, the choice is yours!), that that fruit is the one that you need to be eating right now, and that that fruit is the one which is ultimately speeding you on the way to your goals.

Topsy-Turvy World - 15 - Wasted Money.

Probably most readers are aware of how money is regularly squandered by world governments.. Money that could easily be channeled into solving global famine problems, sickness issues, homelessness, drug issues, orphaned children, crime and more. The world has the resources to tackle such issues efficiently today, but lacking the insight and altruism to do so, chooses instead to channel money toward things that actually maintain the status quo, that help ensure that the bulk of the riches stays within the greedy hands of the minority.

Kveta sunbathing out in the bush.

Millions of dollars are spent on trying to find bogus cures for man made (inflicted through ignorance) illnesses, cancer and the like. Local councils with lack of hindsight and too much money on their hands exhaust funds watering public grass lawns only to spend more time, money and earthly resources mowing them again days later, or using heavy machinery to pick up stray bits of randomly flying litter. And then of course there's the military, I've read previously that globally over 30% of all taxes go toward military funding, and the creation of weapons of mass destruction and training for those brainless pawns that are to dutifully operate them when commanded.. Kveta has just told me that while growing up, a school teacher once stated that the money spent on and by the military is more than enough to buy everyone's food everywhere, such that efficiently redirecting their funds alone could provide us all with free food! Just imagine that the global consciousness shifted, and people realised just how destructive current food choices really are, and instead of focusing on the megamonocrops of cereals, wheat, corn and rice, (depending on climate) etc, the bulk of which probably get forwarded to feeding poor imprisoned and suffering fellow animal brethren, and instead began planting fruit trees, intermingling species and adopting sustainable nonanimal centered permaculture techniques.. How quickly the world could be turned around from its path of suicidal destruction it's currently on.

Eventually of course, I optimistically foresee a time when humans do see the light, and no doubt money too will one day follow the path of the dodo and become extinct.. but meanwhile, while it's still used as a method of procuring ones needs or desires, things clearly desperately need to change.

Some examples of complete money squandering folly I've come across recently, are that the US pentagon spent $19 billion dollars (yes, that's a 19 with sparkling dollar sign before it and 9 zeros after it!) on research to discover that the best bomb detectors are dogs. What insanity and such a sad waste of resources! (read more about this here or here, or just google search the subject).

Me taking a bath.

In Britain, nowhere near the American figure just quoted, but still a substantial amount that could far more wisely be spent, £94,000 has been granted to conduct a study on what makes people attractive.. I mean, honestly! Is this even serious?.. To what end?! (read more here).. If only the government would grant us the same amount for getting some river frontage land to plant exotic tropical fruit trees on, enough to demonstrate sustainable fruit growing through vegan permaculture techniques in practice.. We could make far better use of the money.. We'd invite people over on donation only basis and run month long fruit cures helping people transit in natural settings free of otherwise other temptations. But some are wise, and others are otherwise. And people like ourselves that could desperately be aided by government funding would just be laughed out of their paper pushing bureaucratic offices..

Politicians are constantly squandering money staying in unnecessarily expensive hotels, traveling 1st class, conducting research that leads nowhere, and forever requesting more money to further such studies. Recently I read also of some student who came up with an inner city transport problem solution on a grant of less than $1000, and with money to spare, the local government had previously spent millions, (yes, millions!) trying unsuccessfully to come up with a solution, that some high-school kid solved satisfactorily himself on a limited budget.. I've just been trying to google this but although the news was relatively recent (within the last 2 months), I've not had much luck finding it, but trust me it's there. It happened.

local swimming hole

A little closer to home, here on the East coast of Australia, the Australian government forked out $2 billion to construct and install a desalination plant just south of Sydney. They already knew the inefficiency of desalination from the Victoria one that cost over $3 billion, but the icing on the sugar was that they stuck it less than 3 kilometers from a major Sydney residents sewage outlet.. Jeeze! WHy is even sewage still being pumped into the ocean!? They would have surely been better off spending the money on recycling that waste, rather than extracting clean water from the sea that must be creating 1000s of tonnes of waste mineral products, and what are they going to do with all that, one asks.. This is nothing short of complete and utter madness..

Politicians, Government, Military, I tell you the world would be a lot better off without any of them.. At least not in the form they now are.. I mean, the military could still exist but transform itself to be protectors of the environment instead of zealously jealously paranoiacally  protecting artificially forcefully imposed borders, they the army could protect the land from destruction, the navy, stop pollution in the seas, and the airforce become a responsible body preventing and cleaning up air pollution. Government could coexist with the masses much more harmoniously and less wastefully, shifting focus to the true well being of the planet and all it's inhabitants existing without the potential for wrongdoing that they have, and itself being governed fairly.

Hurry up folks.. we need that global change of consciousness that will lead us out of the tunnel of the dark damp ages, and into the compassionate loving light of a reestablished Earthly Eden.

YES!

Rene Beresford (23/12/1928 - 24/10/2010)

Rene Beresford has moved on. He quit his earthly shackles barely 2 weeks ago, and no doubt finds himself in a space and time of peace and wonder.



For those of you that don't know Rene, he was the founder of the Australian based Fruitarian Network, and toward the end of the 80s and throughout much of the 1990s edited and produced a small informal quarterly newsletter, which was surely an inspiration and encouragement for many world wide, with many wise written words and testimonies on the benefits of the fruit only diet.

Rene was 2 months short of becoming 82, and and surely wasn't having an easy time toward the end, with failing eyesight and mobility problems, I've been told he died with a body riddled with cancer..

A fruitarian dieing of cancer? Yes, that would puzzle me too if it were strictly true. I mean, it's not that I categorically rule out the possibility of a fruitarian with cancer, as there can be other contributing factors besides food intake leading to such physiological situations, but sadly I believe Rene, being originally of dutch decent and background, growing up through Europe in the 2nd world war, suffering many hardships and no doubt other tough life experiences, did not adopt his fruitarian ideas until quite late in life, and despite his seeming conviction to fruitarianism, Rene himself had difficulty putting his own beliefs and philosophies consistently into practise. So, much as he was undoubtedly dedicated to spreading the truth about food, he himself never truly sought out the correct nurturing environment and surroundings to allow integration of such ideas fully into his own life.

I last met the guy toward the end of the 1990s, but had a decent chat with him on the phone barely 7 or 8 months ago.. He expressed at the time some frustration that he had not come to fruitarianism earlier in his life, and wished to indicate that his ails were not at all stemming from a fruit diet, - something I'm sure he'd wish to be made known to any puzzled followers.

In honour of the fellow, there will be a small memorial held this coming sunday (14th November) at 16:00, on the northern end of Trinity beach (Cairns, Australia), anyone who knew him, or of him, is welcome to attend, just bring along an item of fruit or 2 to share, and enjoy the picnic.

Rene's newsletter was most definitely a comfort for me as I myself struggled sticking with fruit and even raw, and it helped to read of and share experiences with others through the informal newsletter, and know that I was far from alone with those struggles (in those pre-internet days, such fruitarian magazines were about the only way we had of connecting with other like minds!). So I'd like to personally thank Rene for being there and being an often voice of reason.

Wherever you're at, enjoy the fruits of your labour Rene!