Rescue Journal

easy street

Carol  ·  Jan. 28, 2014

I think the number one thing universally shared by mankind is the perception that living will be good once we can finally build our house and set down roots on easy street. easy street is the place where everything we want and need is right there waiting for us to stretch out our hand.

I wonder tho if easy street is really just stepford.

I just can't see what the purpose to living would be if sipping margaritas on the sunset beach is the ultimate goal...that just seems like a waste of my time.

I bitch and whine constantly about how freaking difficult it is to live a rescue life. and I know that I will never see in my lifetime the kind of universal respect for the animals that I envision but that we currently totally disregard by our abuse and neglect in this day and at this very moment in time.

and quite frankly I am not sure that I even believe any more that the human species is even capable of living without causing great harm to them.

we just want so much more than we have.

I get my head all screwed up because sometimes I want more than I have too. maybe it is not trips, or a new pair of shoes, or a nice house on easy street with a backyard pool. maybe what I want is more intangible than some kind of "things" but it doesn't matter because I find myself craving something for me, personally, that I do not have too.

I think we were all built with one prime directive...one mission in life to see thru. and that prime directive might be different than someone elses or maybe we are all initially wired the same...I am not sure. and I think most of us have no clue what that prime directive really is. I know I struggle with looking for the absolute irrefutable answer to this.

the couple of hundred animals I try to help each year during the past many long years are a drop in the bucket to the millions upon millions that get kicked to the curb. sure it all adds up and while it started with one, it eventually became a few thousand which is still a drop in the bucket of billions of animals who suffered without any help over those very same years.

it is not just rescue that sucks...I think life in general sucks because few if any ever get to find easy street before their lives are finally done.

maybe I would do better to quit looking ahead into the mistiness of elusiveness and just live here and now and find some way to accept the current reality while still striving towards a different reality that most likely I will never get to see arrive.

maybe that is my prime directive: to live with hope when there is no hope and still hope for hope anyway.

hmmmm...does that make any sense?

Comments

erin

May, that number is staggering. Now I'm going to have to do some research to see if I personally am party to this, and if I have a choice about it.

May

Oh Carol, youre as philosophical as I am.

I wonder if the prime directive isnt simply to devote our lives to doing good? Really, at the end of it all isnt that the only thing that matters? Isnt that our legacy? Its so basic and simple. I often look at people and wonder what purpose their life is. Have they not thought about why they are here? I dont think were here simply to propagate the species, be a source of support and comfort to family and make memories. That is too self-indulgent for me. There has to be more. I try not to get overwhelmed by the millions of animals living in horrific, torturous conditions (e.g., more than 67,000 beagles were used for lab testing in the US in 2012). We can only do what we can. Its not how many we help; its just in the simple act of doing. We've changed the world for one little dog, or cat or rabbit, etc. I cant think of anything more honourable than to dedicate my life to doing good and the silly thing is I cant help myself. Its almost a compulsion.

Like you, I do sometimes crave something for me. Right now I guess Im in a contented space because I cant think of anything but occasionally I think Id like to focus more on doing something for me. Then the feeling passes and I get on with doing what I do for the beagles.

erin

saving one dog wont change the world, but it will certainly change the world for that one dog. and thats all that really matters.