jclutter
Sometimes you can feel your heart breaking.
I met Maggie yesterday. She was rescued from the Hillsborough county animal shelter by Pet Pal Rescue. Most pit bulls that come into shelters are killed, plain and simple. But Maggie was saved.
I've become more and more involved in the last few weeks with the shelter, with animals... period. It's amazing when something comes into your life that you just can't stop thinking about. I've realized how much this matters... to me... trying to help in whatever way I can. I'm taking it all in and trying to learn how to be most effective. Learning the facts and the practical approaches to saving animals lives and dealing with educating the public. I know that I can make an emotional argument but that may not be the best way to make a change right now... to be able to speak calmly, to show people a better way to take care of these living beings, to lead by example... I know there are so many things that are wrong, BSL, puppy mills, Michael Vick... but what I'm realizing is, beyond educating myself about all of these horrible things, I can't think along the lines of the big picture... right now. If I think of all of the awful things that are being done to precious, innocent souls like Maggie, I freeze. I think what can I possibly do to make a difference? It's bigger than me. And then I just sit there doing nothing.
But.. if I just get up. Ride my bike to the shelter... walk in the door and do something, walk a few dogs, scrub a few kennels... I realize how friggin simple it is. I'm not doing anything spectacular... nothing extraordinary... mostly I'm cleaning up poop. But the smallest thing, one hour, one day, it opens my mind. I see what's going on now, and I can't ignore it. I can't just say... oh how awful those poor dogs... but man, I could never do anything to help... I've had so many reasons in the past, not enough time or.. God, I'd want to take all of them home and I can't.. or I don't know where to start..
I'm not really sure where I was going with this but maybe this is all just to say... get up. Do something. The smallest action can start an absolute tidal wave of change (have I mentioned all this is making me incredibly corny.) Find something, anything that you connect to and give your time.. even if it's a half an hour every other week. Can you imagine if we all took a break from trying to solve our own problems and spent five minutes trying to help someone else with theirs? Holy Crap.
Sometimes you can feel your heart breaking.
I met Maggie yesterday. She was rescued from the Hillsborough county animal shelter by Pet Pal Rescue. Most pit bulls that come into shelters are killed, plain and simple. But Maggie was saved.
I've become more and more involved in the last few weeks with the shelter, with animals... period. It's amazing when something comes into your life that you just can't stop thinking about. I've realized how much this matters... to me... trying to help in whatever way I can. I'm taking it all in and trying to learn how to be most effective. Learning the facts and the practical approaches to saving animals lives and dealing with educating the public. I know that I can make an emotional argument but that may not be the best way to make a change right now... to be able to speak calmly, to show people a better way to take care of these living beings, to lead by example... I know there are so many things that are wrong, BSL, puppy mills, Michael Vick... but what I'm realizing is, beyond educating myself about all of these horrible things, I can't think along the lines of the big picture... right now. If I think of all of the awful things that are being done to precious, innocent souls like Maggie, I freeze. I think what can I possibly do to make a difference? It's bigger than me. And then I just sit there doing nothing.
But.. if I just get up. Ride my bike to the shelter... walk in the door and do something, walk a few dogs, scrub a few kennels... I realize how friggin simple it is. I'm not doing anything spectacular... nothing extraordinary... mostly I'm cleaning up poop. But the smallest thing, one hour, one day, it opens my mind. I see what's going on now, and I can't ignore it. I can't just say... oh how awful those poor dogs... but man, I could never do anything to help... I've had so many reasons in the past, not enough time or.. God, I'd want to take all of them home and I can't.. or I don't know where to start..
I'm not really sure where I was going with this but maybe this is all just to say... get up. Do something. The smallest action can start an absolute tidal wave of change (have I mentioned all this is making me incredibly corny.) Find something, anything that you connect to and give your time.. even if it's a half an hour every other week. Can you imagine if we all took a break from trying to solve our own problems and spent five minutes trying to help someone else with theirs? Holy Crap.