Documentary Film, Kindness Footprints – Discover How You Can Change the World Today
By his early 30s, Philip Wollen was already a very successful Vice President at CitiBank. But the problem was, his heart’s calling was somewhere else. His true calling was helping others and all sentient beings rather than in making money. So he pulled together his life savings and developed the Kindness Trust. He traveled the world, witnessing the cries, the screams and the suffering of animals being raised in small cages, in severe confinement, and then killed in slaughterhouses—seeing their fear and terror and anguish first-hand. It changed him. Forever. He watched how farm animals were mistreated and abused, and suffered so that humans could eat meat, dairy and eggs. And ever since—he has been in an all-out, life-long fight to spread his message of kindness and non-violence to all animals by eating a plant-based vegan diet. In the film, he implores us:
“Getting involved is the most important thing you can do. Now that you know the truth you can no longer hide. Now that you know the truth, you can no longer ignore the suffering of animals. You must get involved. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Unless you want to be totally ignorant or deliberately obtuse, you must take responsibility—and I don’t mean in a very passive sort of way. The first thing you do of course is become vegan. Then you tell your friends—and your friend’s friends to go vegan. And tell your family and your work colleagues to go vegan. And most importantly you become an activist. If you’re not an activist, you’re being passive—almost to the extent of benign negligence. We don’t have that luxury anymore. We have got billions of animals out there screaming for their lives. We don’t have the luxury of closing our eyes and shutting our ears.”
He says, the most important philosophy in the world is expressed by Gandhi:
“My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realizing Him.”
Some Pain Metrics
In China, 7000 magnificent Moon Bears have to endure concentration camp conditions in cages where they are milked for their bile, used in medicine.
In South Korea, dogs are beaten to death in the street for their meat.
Sheep are dumped in the sea enroute from Australia to Indonesia and the Middle East.
Two billion animals are killed every week for our palette.
Sharks have their fins cut off and are thrown back into the sea, writhing in agony, so that millions of rich folks in China and Asia can enjoy a bowl of shark fin soup.
Millions of animals endure terrible conditions in circuses and zoos to provide entertainment to humans.
Dairy farms utilize millions of liters of water and pollute seas by dumping toxic waste.
Cows and calves are treated like junk yard scrap on dairy farms that make tons of money.
Some Quotes From the Film
“The Himalayan mountain caps, or the Third Pole, which feeds half the world’s population are melting fast—caused by the livestock industry around the world.”
“His epiphany in life came when he visited the slaughterhouse of one of his clients. It was a life-transforming experience. He realized the screams he heard in the slaughterhouse were the same that he heard from his father when he was ravaged by cancer, and the same as those uttered by animals in numerous abusive situations. They are the same cries.”
“He understood that pain—is the same pain—is equal between all species, human and non-human. In the capacity to experience pain—a pig—is a dog—is a bear—is a boy.”
“The metrics we use is always dollar-denominated. We calculate everything in dollars—I don’t, I look at it in very simple terms. I look at it in how many lives we save. This isn’t really a question of animal rights—we are ALL animals—let’s not forget that.”
“The most beautiful work ever written at any time in any country came from India by Gandhi, where he prescribed, “Non violence to any living being.” We have a duty to care. The only country in the world where animal rights are enshrined in the Constitution is in India. India should be very proud of this.”
“In life everything is connected to everything. We are all inextricably connected together.”
“In human history, only 100 billion human beings have ever lived, and yet we torture and kill 3,000,000,000 sentient, living, feeling beings every single week. That is a crime of unimaginable proportions.”
“We know that greenhouse gas emissions from livestock exceed those from all transport. Livestock is much worse.”
“Phil is not afraid to stand up for his beliefs and be criticized for them. He has been described as impractical and unrealistic, and has been threatened personally and has been vilified in the press. But nothing stops him.”
“We encourage people to let us know if they see puppies being born on the street, or if they see someone whipping a horse, or hurting a cow – they let us know and we can send our ambulance out there. That’s the strategy.”
“To get involved is the most important thing they can do. Now that they know the truth they can no longer hide. Now that they know the truth they can no longer ignore the suffering of animals. They must get involved. If they are not part of the solution, they are part of the problem. Unless you want to be totally ignorant. The first thing you do of course is become vegan. Then you tell your friends and your friend’s friends to go vegan.”
“The first thing you do, of course, is become vegan. Then you tell your friends and your friend’s friends to go vegan. And tell your family and your work colleagues to go vegan. And most importantly you become an activist. If you’re not an activist, you’re being passive. Almost to the extent of benign negligence. We don’t have that luxury anymore. We have got billions of animals out there screaming. We don’t have the luxury of shutting our eyes and closing our ears.”
“The idea behind our “Kindness Farms” is simple. We came up with the idea of buying rural properties. We grow a great deal of fruit, nuts, vegetables, legumes with the idea of feeding the animals, and building a Kindness Kitchen so our shelter staff gets to eat a very healthy vegan meal. They learn how to grow their own food. They bring their children into the Kindness Farm—and they feel healthier and live healthier, longer lives. We get them off the meat-eating diet they are on. Then we use the dung for cooking gas and generate electricity. We have three Kindness Farms so far.”
For more information:
Like Kindness Trust on Facebook
Learn more about Philip Wollen
Checkout Philip Wollen’s VeganEasy.org
See the Debate, “Animals Should Be Off the Menu”
Film Length: 24:07 Minutes
Film Launch: 2012
About Philip Wollen
“Phil is a 59 year old Merchant Banker, OAM, Queens Birthday Honours 2005, Australian of the Year Victoria 2007 and Founder of The Winsome Constance Kindness Trust (WCKT) www.kindnesstrust.com. Phil and his partner Trix work tirelessly to help those in need and sponsor over 200 non profit organizations around the world. When Phil founded the WCKT he stated it had five fingers, namely, “Children, Animals, the Ill, the Environment and Aspiring Youth”. (Source: VeganEasy.org)
Film Credits
Written, Directed and Photographed by: Azam Siddiqui
Research: Shubhobroto Ghosh
Narration: Azam
Music by: Maria Daines & Paul Killington
Thanks to: Philip Wollen and Trix Wollen for making this film possible
Produced by: Kindness Trust
