Rescue Journal

and here is another question...thx mo.

Carol · Feb. 20, 2008

do all of the animals here actually love me? some of them love me beyond any shadow of a doubt, who in their right mind would question how some of them like lexie and clyde and cleo and cuddles and maude and hook and tyra and julie and tally, actually feel about me?

but the barn guys? now that is always a huge question in my mind. i know they love each other, percy loves jeanette and all of them love gideon, carl loves ellie mae...but a human? i am not too sure.

sometimes i watch ellie considering me. she looks at me with that one very keen eye and i wonder what she is thinking. i think she might love me because i treat her like she is truly a princess and who wouldn't love someone who treated you like royalty?

it really doesn't matter if they love me or not. they like me and they trust me and i am happy with that.

i think all of them feel love, i am just not sure they feel it for me personally but then i will never really know this because they can't talk.

i think it is important to give love even if it doesn't necessarily come back. because if you can only love someone who loves you first, where is the gift in that?

that's my deep questioning thought for today...now for even more important trivial crap.....50 minutes and counting til american idol starts!!!

Comments

lburrell

I wish that were my e-mail signature:

"Loving someone and treating them like a treasure does not mean they are allowed to dump over the wheelbarrow when it is full."

Carol

interesting thought alex...here is what i believe...you can never spoil an animal or a human with pure unadulterated love.
you spoil them either with "things" or with being inconsistent in your love...ie whoever actually drives you nutz but you let them do it anyway. you might say it is because you love them, but really it is because of laziness or fear they might get mad at you instead.
ellie, is a princess in every possible good meaning of the word...she is bright, she is clever, she is kind and gentle and she thinks deeply about certain things.
however,princess or not..she is still a young pig...she thinks it is fun to play with the wheelbarrow even if it is currently busy doing other things...she is a hysteric because most pigs are hysterics but that comes from being a prey animal at the bottom of the food chain. loving someone and treating them like a treasure does not mean they are allowed to dump over the wheelbarrow when it is full.

Tracey

This was brought up on another board if I remember correctly... interesting discussion.

I love my animals. How they feel about me doesn't matter.

The feral I share my home with is finally, after years, no longer scared of me. That broke my heart, thinking about this poor animal living in fear day after day in his own home.

I have several that are all over me, all the time. Purring, head butting, sitting on my lap, trying to climb on my head, licking, kissing, swirling, jumping in my arms to snuggle... they sure make me FEEL loved, whether or not that is their intention. :)

Then I have a couple to whom I am simply the provider of food, fresh water and a clean place to poo (cats keep humans humble). Occasionally they will request that I scritch a spot they cannot reach.

I have no expectations of any of them. I do request that pooping and peeing happen within the confines of a litterbox (sometimes they listen, sometimes they dont). I do request that the small, the weak, the meek, and the physically disabled not be picked on by the big, strong and able-bodied (sometimes they listen, sometimes they dont).

But other than that, my only request is that they are happy.

Hillevi

Isn't the ability of the residents of SAINTS to be themselves the greatest tribute and example of love? Misfits, abandoned, abused, or who knows what else come to SAINTS and end up showing you who they really are. I can't think of anything greater than that. They and we truly love you!

" Let the animals just be who they are "

That is exactly one of the reasons why SAINTs is such a great place, the animals just get to be who they are, sometimes who they are when they come in... is not really who they want to be... they are what they have become because of some other force ( 99.99% it is a human problem ) and over time , the real them comes out & that is such a wonderful thing to witness. Clyde is a great example, at first you could not touch him.. then when you could touch him, he was so tense it was like petting a rock ... now he leaps towards me & loves to be scratched & rubbed & he is becoming quite the little barn helper... except my dogs don't really like him... yet

Alex

Treating someone like royalty with the expectation of being loved in return...well maybe, and maybe not. I've met dogs and kids that were catered to hand and foot, and they repaid that love with horrible behavior, disrepect, a sense of entitlement, and inability to function in society without throwing tantrums.

Isn't mutual respect a better thing. You respect the animal, and in return you earn the animal's respect.

Expectations of love is a very human thing, and even that is earned...the right way. Let the animals just be who they are.

Alex

Does it really matter? Human love is such a complexe emotion, often accompanying pain.

Just be happy that the animals are being themselves, and hopefully happy just being animals...without all that extra burden us humans tote around with us.

jessie

Hi C...You bet your sweet boopie they love you...How could they not.... Heck even I love you, and I barely know you....and as sure as the sun shines, you shine too...even though you feel lousey and your job really does suck sometimes...I can feel your love way over here, so you can be sure they feel it and I hope you do too... and we all shine on.....Feeeeeel the love.....friend..... By for now, ruff ruff sluurrp sluuurrp...Jessie