Rescue Journal

another burden for rescues(ers)

Carol  ·  May 10, 2007

is role modelling. esp for the established and experienced ones. you pretty much never see out and out public slagging between professional doctors and nurses but boy do you see it alot in rescue. i think we forget sometimes that we do have a responsibility to maintain professional standards too.

the ones who now or in the future go into rescue, if they are smart, will be learning from the decades of experience collectively out there already. and that puts a burden of responsibility on all of us to set standards and examples to foster professionalism too. and i am not talkng about business suits and nice shoes and briefcases or fancy business cards. i am speaking about standards of care and behavior that fosters growth and improvement, learning thru shining example not thru flaming wars.

there is shame in rescue, animals not cared for appropriately, dishonesty in dealings with others, unkindness and lack of respect in minding everyone elses business instead of taking care of the business at hand. and there are glowing, white moments of utter goodness that gets overshadowed by all of the crap. i think if we celebrated the goodness, it would grow bigger and stronger and fill up a bigger place. and i think we do that by setting and adhering to standards for how we personally practice our craft.

i don't want the next generation of rescuers to have to live thru some of the pointless but deadly hurts of the past. i want them to be able to concentrate fully on helping animals in need, effectively and responsibly. and to learn to do this, they need us to teach them through our own example of the way that this world possibly could be.

if i was a newbie out there wanting to learn how to do rescue, i would stay away from the darkness and seek out the light. rescue is much easier if you can see what you are actually doing. altho i have to admit, i did learn alot about what not to do by stumbling around in the night.

Comments

Christine

Well stated for sure Carol.
The sad thing is, so many people in rescue SEEM to forget to put the animals first. You never do that. I have been reading the blog daily for several months now, and have much respect for you and the work you do.

I hope the next generation of rescuers can learn from you, and people like you, that the bottom line is always the critters. That's the whole point of rescue.

Chris T

Very well stated Carol. Unfortunately people involved in rescue seem to think it is ok to judge each other, often on speculation. Then the speculations are presented as fact. When you then try to dig for the facts there are none there. Hopefully things can be improved once people are held accountable for their words.