Rescue Journal

real rescue

Carol  ·  Jul. 10, 2013

I am reading a book called "the furry prayer" that someone sent to me a couple of years back that I never had time to read before (thank you!) it is written by a man who falls in love with a rescuer (someone must have dropped him on his head!) and finds himself knee deep in chi's and a few other kinds of dogs.

the book is full of interesting facts like...the Aztecs believed that chi's were spirit guides and they used to bury a live dog along with the dead to guide the dearly departed to the promised land...and Descartes used to try to prove that animals had no feelings by nailing dogs to the wall. he would tell his audience that the dogs screams were not from pain but a purely mechanical reaction like a valve letting off steam.

every once in a while, he uses the term "real rescue" not as an accusation but more of a questioning search.

so I started thinking about real rescue and I have no doubt that the rescuing going on around here is real.
but what do the words real rescue actually mean?

it means a lot of things to a lot of different people.

to some it means a bunch of uneducated, not very bright women with poor social skills, running amuck with self importance using animals as a holy shield. (don't bother getting pissy at me for actually saying this because, like it or not that is what several people I know personally think.) I find this take on rescue somewhat embarrassing.

to some it means a saintly animal loving person who has earned the earthly right to wear angel halo's and wings..this view of rescue makes me want to puke.

to others it is not legitimately real unless all of the trappings of policy, procedures, business plans and budgets say it is really real. this shit drives me insane.

and to others it is all about whatever certificates, courses, research, degrees, books, TV/radio shows we can pull out of our resumes to PROVE we know what we are doing is real...I just shake my head at this egotistical bullshit..go for it fill yer boots.

let me tell you something...

rescue is a single animal in distress that a single human takes in and protects. you can multiply that single animal by a hundred and multiply that single person to make he or she many now too. but the one common un-divisible denominator on both sides is the number one...one animal, one human.

all of the other shit...the craziness, the ignorance, the saintliness, the business-ness, the famousness, the intellectualness, the never ending discussions, debates and politics...that's all just the fall out that naturally occurs where ever humans dare to tread.

rescue starts and ends with one single act..one person helping one animal.

real rescue is as simple as that.

oh as an aside....I think those Aztecs were pretty freaking stupid..why the hell would any poor buried alive chi guide the cause of their own horrid death to the good other side? they took those damn stupid dead folks straight down the road to hell.

Comments

NicoleMcC

FYI, I really like this post. Especially the don't bother getting pissy at me.

Bridget

O.o not to mention the poor chi probably ate the dead in an effort to stay alive.
eeegh!

Lenore Henry

Hi Carol - A Small Furry Prayer is a wonderful book. I have been following the author, Steven Kotler and his wife, Joy Nicholson's website for a few years now. Their site is on Facebook under Rancho de Chihuahua if anyone is interested. They too, like yourself, take in special needs and broken dogs, primarily chihuahuas who have either been abused, neglected or discarded by their owners. There are two words that Steven often uses in the book and they are "helper's high" which truly is the meaning of rescue in my eyes and what one feels and receives in return for helping animals who have endured some of the worst situations imaginable. Like them, you have the same heart and soul as they do trying to help our furry friends live the remaining years of their lives with dignity and love.

Marisa

I gave this book as a gift to my friend when he got involved in dog rescue!

You are so right, Carol. Wherever humans dare to tread there is a lot of confusion and muddying of the waters. I like how you tend to cut through all that malarkey and get to the core of the matter.