Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 

1 John 3:17-18

One very chilly afternoon last week a friend and I passed an hour in one of Northern California’s classic bastions of peace, love, and vegan, organic, raw, local, sustainable food served up in haute hippie style (need I mention that we were in Berkeley?). Menu items in this café, it must be understood, are named for declared graces. Thus, after repeating our order for two cups of “I Am Cozy,” our waitress—festively attired in a paisley dress, argyle knee socks, and a purple crocheted crown—said, “I’ll be right back with your tea. Meanwhile, today’s question is: What can we give away today?

She spun on her heel and left, leaving us to think what, indeed? The masses of stuff in my life began to slog in dreary parade past my mind’s eye. My friend wondered aloud if maybe the better question wouldn’t be, “What should we actually keep today?” Inspired, we set to making lists, which naturally began with loved ones (I’m happy to report that after the merest moment of hesitation, our respective teenage children made the cut).

On Tuesday morning I attended my first all-employee meeting at Gracias Madre; this was a time for the staff of Cafe Gratitude to come together, learn about challenges facing the company, share concerns and events from each others’ lives, and celebrate our collective dedication to the values that make our organization what it is.
I had been looking forward to this meeting, and with it, the chance to meet many members of the Cafe Gratitude family. But although I was excited, it was early in the morning, and I was coming down with a cold, so my attention soon began to wander. I began to shift irritably on my hard, uncomfortable wooden chair, waiting for the meeting to end. I was trying my best to appreciate the loving conversation taking place around me, but I was really starting to feel ill. But then, suddenly, something caught my attention. Chandra, our operations manager, was talking about the values we hold dear, including organic agriculture and veganism.

Veganism! The word caused me to lift my head and start listening again. I’ve been a vegan for three years now, and a vegetarian for all of my twenty-three; a diet free of animal products is essential for me. And yet in light of this, and even though I’ve also been involved in promoting these diets amongst my peers for several years, I had almost forgotten that this is a core tenet of Cafe Gratitude. A few days prior I had attended the Abounding River Workshop, where I learned the spiritual practices that guide our business, and in doing so, realized the multi-faceted ways the business supports its people and builds a vibrant community based in love, gratitude, and transformation. I came to see Cafe Gratitude as a place primarily concerned with the well-being of all those who choose to work there.

But if that wasn’t enough--a restaurant chain that supports all employees with a well-practices set of tools to enhance emotional, physical and spiritual well-being--this restaurant chain also serves 100% vegan food! And it’s not just some wacky hippie cafe in the bay area--this franchise is exploding, with multiple new locations slated to open in Southern California over the next few years, and a Kansas City, MO restaurant is in the works as well!
I had been so focused on the cafe’s concern for humanity that I forgot how that concern is only one piece of a larger compassionate puzzle. Cafe Gratitude’s ethics show kindness to humans, animals, and the environment as well. I looked around me at the 40 people sitting in a circle, and almost laughed out loud, because most of them looked nothing like your stereotypical vegan. It was a joyful laugh: how wonderful to see vegan food being embraced by all different types of people. After all, compassion is not easily boxed into one category or another; we need not be compassionate only towards the Earth, or to non-human creatures, or to one another. A life’s work can be made by extending our circle of compassion as far as it will go.