Quakers call today "first day" as it is the first day of the week. As I sit here in the living room with a cat between me and the computer, the sun dappling the floor and a lovely fire, I am touched by the kindness I see in the world and stunned by the cruelty and inhumanity there is as well.
Someone set a boxer out near my mother's home. The dear little thing waits every day for its owner to return. He watches every car, rises to meet it, and is visibly hurt when the car passes by. Mother has tried repeatedly to catch the fella; he can come live with us if and when he is caught. I have a thing for harboring the lost and abandoned. In frustration, Mother wrote the local paper a letter about the dog and the abandonment. We all understand that these are difficult times financially. A boxer isn't cheap to feed. But, to abandon the little guy is cruel. It makes me want to weep.
However, after Mother's letter was in the paper on Friday, she has found folks trying to round up the dog as well as people who have left a total of 40 pounds of dog food on the side of the road for him. This is the kindness that surprises and pleases me. There are kind people in the world.
These are the same people who, after a mother in Fayetteville is arrested for selling her own five year old daughter for sex slavery and the child is found dead a short time later, show up at a parking lot to pray for not only the child, but the murderer and family, including the mother. These are the people who are quiet and unassuming; people who care for others. People who live what they believe. No judgement. Just love.
This morning I am wishing that the news was all good and we just ignored the bad for one day. I wish I were leaving my son a kinder, gentler world.
Matty,
ReplyDeleteIt's was so nice to read about the good people in your post. We need to hear more about them that's for sure to help us drown out some of the bad.
thanks for the good message.
vickie
amen Matty, great post.
ReplyDeleteI find it so much harder to read about the cruelty of humanity when it is focused on an animal or child, the two most innocent components of our society. It makes my heart so heavy to know that such sadness and cruelty exists, but I take heart in the knowledge that for every one cruel act, there are many more random acts of kindness, and though it can never erase the ones that break our hearts, it is a sign that good wins over evil, if we just remember to treat each other as we should.
Thanks for the reminder...and a hug to ya :)
Oh Matty! It is a wicked world. But is good that there are those who try to change it, however they can. I find that often I have to just turn off the news. Ignorance is bliss. Sometimes it's not bad to stick your head in the sand. I always try to remember the serenity prayer in times like this. Although it is hard to find serenity in some things you cannot change. That takes some work!
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I've put an old braided rug over the bench on my porch. It makes a great shelter for all the stray cats in the neighborhood when the weather turn harsh. My next door neighbor Tom feeds them. We have some of the fattest stray cats in the world!
Jane
Aww, my daughter has a boxer, and all I could picture while I was reading was her sweet, Tyson. So sad when pets are abandoned.
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