This is an old photo with two animals who are now in spirit. Cassie, border collie mix, and cat Buster taught us so much. At the time of the photo, Cassie had just arrived here with us. She was heavily traumatized and timid of everything in life. She had huddled on a dog bed near our desks when Buster walked in and approached her. He sensed her fear and anxiety about literally everything in life. What he did next will be engraved in my heart forever and I captured it in this photo. It is timely for what we are all going through now in this world. I want to share this with all of you.
Life sometimes gets overwhelming. It is easy to feel so insecure or unsure that we just want to hunker down and make the world go away. But it doesn’t. Times like those, and like many of us are experiencing now, are made easier by the kindness and compassion of another. This moment between Cassie and Buster became a pivotal turn-around moment for both of them and for us humans who got to witness this. As Buster lay down beside her, it brought Cassie great comfort. He told her, “Just rest. I’m here with you. You’ve got this. You’re safe. It’s all ok.” And as he snuggled up next to her, she gently rested her head across his back, took a huge breath, and relaxed. He reached out to her in the exact way that she needed. A kindred spirit who understood the fear she was going through because he had come through that himself earlier in his life. His act of kindness helped to change the course of her life. And Cassie then became the caretaker and compassionate heart to many more animals who came after her. She left that legacy behind when she left her body years later.
I am writing this now, as we in New York State are in quarantine. Many of you out there face the same thing or may be facing it soon. It leaves many questions and uncertainties. How will we get through this? How long will this go on? Will we be ok? Will we recover?
We have followers on our Facebook page and website from all over the world. ALL of us are facing the same thing. We are all in this together.
We have an opportunity now to face this together, with strength and compassion and concern and respect for one another. If a once cast out, abused and abandoned cat can reach out with love and compassion for a dog who had given up on life – we humans can put our differences aside and be there for one another too.
We will get through this. We will come out the other side. We will heal. We will be better than we ever were before. Because we will discover that indeed the only way we can do this – is together. Together, we can change the world.
Let’s follow the example of how the animals live. Let’s be the people they think we are. Let’s be there for one another and let’s get through this together. Kindness. Compassion. Love.
It is how we make it through.
Dawn