Caring

This was a picture that made the rounds on Facebook today.  I saw it on someone else's Facebook page and shared it on mine, which I don't often do, but it struck a chord, for obvious and not so obvious reasons.


I happen to think that caring about others, those less fortunate, less advantaged, less capable, is a good thing.  It may be what makes us human, if we choose to act on it.  Maybe having the choice is what makes us human, and making the right choice is what makes us decent human beings.

Rescue is about caring for the less fortunate of man's companion animals, those that we as a species have failed.  Rescue is not about obtaining a pure bred dog at a fraction of the price asked and paid by breeders and buyers.  It's not about taking in a dog and then dumping it again when your personal life changes.  It's not about adopting a dog and then returning it when you find a "defect" like it was a new TV.  It's not about making yourself feel good, self-righteous, proud, or smug about what a good thing you've done.  It's about helping an animal who needs help. 

Sable went to the Bridge today.  She had bone cancer and we knew her time was coming.  She was one of my former fosters, a rottweiler.  Sable was a lovely dog, but she was not a dog that anyone should have wanted to adopt.  When she came into the rescue she had a terrible case of perianal fistulas.  Fecal matter would ooze from drainage tracks that shouldn't have been there.  But she was a wonderful dog, a dog with a good heart, a good soul.  Her adopters saw that in her and didn't let her illness define her.  They cared and they wanted to help her, knowing that this can be a very tricky and difficult condition to manage, and it was. 

Not many people could have done what they did for Sable and fewer still would have.  They held that umbrella over that dog, and gave her all the care that could be given.  But look into her eyes and you can see why.