there are many inequalities in rescue.

mountains of stinky laundry, house flooded with pee, animals that you love suddenly packing it in and permanently retiring....a well executed fairy tale pig ending with a sudden and unexpected twist, screaming mini tina's who shatter your ears.

rescue is not fair or equalitable..it is what it is.

and believe me when i say...the inequality in rescue is not personal either. no one is out to get me (oh right..second thought here..maybe a very few from the past who took rescue far too personally might be...) but...no one who really counts in the grand scheme of things around here is out to get me either. and as far as yesterdays mountain of laundry goes..incontinent animals simply pee when and where the mood strikes them..they were not peeing to ruin my night or make me stay up late with them.

but just because the difficult stuff in rescue is not personal does not mean i have to accept it without seeking a solution. we can with some thought and effort organize and decrease the amount of daily laundry to make it more manageable, we can reallocate staffing hours to deal with a problematic black hole on the weekends. many shelters actually will not give their dogs fabric bedding..they rip it up, they piss on it and it creates a ton of extra workload expense.

i have no intention of denying old animals a comfortable bed and i have no intention of turning away incontinents because they cause a ton of extra work.

so here is something i have learned in rescue...there is a huge difference between being frustrated and/or angry at a person vs an issue. if you focus blame on a person or people... A, you are powerless and B. because you are powerless, you are totally screwed. if however you focus on the issue..then you can actually work towards a solution..and that gives you the power tools to do what you need to do.

it is no ones fault that the laundry did not get thru yesterday...there was simply too much laundry and not enough time to do it. it took me 7 hours to get that pile thru and no one was here for an extra seven hours except for you know who. and i know it was not personal...but that doesn't mean that the issue of a mountain of stinky laundry at the end of my work day is not frustrating. hah..if it wasn't...i would be a saint!

anyway..i don't expect rescue to ever be easy, to ever be a garden party. i don't expect to come home and kick off my shoes and drink champange in a bubble bath before donning my silk pajamas.

i am pretty happy if i actually have a pair of matching (or not) right AND left and only half chewed slippers to put on while i share my cookies and milk.

but i do think rescue can be a little bit better than just 24/7 brutally pukingly hard...and that is when we look at the issues and problem solve.