when the going gets tough..the tough get going
Carol · May 7, 2017
rescue is conflicted.
you need to be super sensitive to the needs and feelings of others and even yourself and yet tough enough to pull up the sagging socks to get done what has to be done.
we all have not so great days. days that leave us bruised and sometimes bleeding.
the trick is to get up and move past those days and get the job done.
not that the job actually has a finish line...just an ongoing to do list that grows every day.
because here is the thing...
rescue is not about you or me. it is about...them.
in some way or another we are all hypocrites...knowing we can do better, wanting to be better but not actually getting there on every single thing.
and we can know this and choose 2 reactions...stop what we are doing and start with the excuses or blame.
or we can accept that the issue is inside of ourselves and choose to stop or keep going anyway.
i think the hardest lesson i had to learn in rescue is..i am not as good as i could be. there are lots of things that i could be doing better, but i don't.
so does that negate all of the other good things that i can and have done? do i just stop because i can't be the whole, entire perfect cake?
can i accept that is ok... just being a slice or a few perfect bites..is some not better than nothing?
the folks who don't make it rescue quit and become the lost and forgotten parts of the story. but the ones who get up from the invariable falls, the ones who struggle onward despite the blinding fog, the ones who swallow the pain of failure and imperfection yet still soldier on...the ones tough enough to seek the right path when they got lost....
are the ones who get the real chance to right some of the animal's wrongs in real and meaningful ways.
we all have doubts.
we all have fears.
we all nurse human hurts and tears.
and i say...
so fucking what?...animal rescue is not supposed to be rescuing me...
it is about oreo...kitty...that idiot but sweet, diabetic puppy...and my so greatly loved and missed: ellie, gideon and percy.
so i am learning to pack all my bruises and ouches and place them into recycle to make them over into something useful to my animal friends...
like experience, and insight, and maybe one day even wisdom.
and that will be the ultimate pay day for them!