Why Push Through The Pain

would love nothing more than to promote the fun things with dogs. Believe me, I would REALLY, REALLY LOVE to do that. And there was a time when I did. Hell, there was a time I wanted to start my own show kennel. (UGH!) But that time coincides with the time when I thought that WAS all there was to dogs. I was ignorant.
I rescue. I spend all my money, my valuable time with my own dogs, everything on rescue. Rescue is hard. Rescue is sad more times than happy. Rescue is tiring. Rescue is not pretty. Rescue is expensive. Rescue is physically, mentally, emotionally, financially draining. Rescue will shorten my life. But sometimes, its not how long you live, but what you do with the time you have that matters.
On rescue’s worst day, it is STILL better than it is for them. Imagine what its like to be them. Imagine, REALLY imagine what its like. To be at the whim of whoever claims you as their own. To have to accept when they do not feed you. To accept that you did something wrong when they beat you, even when you have no idea what it was you did. To accept the neglect, and still greet them when they are near. To accept being put in a concrete cell with other dogs like you, screaming to be out. To not know where you were going when someone came and took you out of that cell. Will it be the yard outside, in the sunshine, or will it be the small room in the back that no dog returns from. Imagine kissing the hand of a stranger, in hopes that they will take you away from all this… Imagine that….. REALLY imagine that.
So why do I cry over, yet still come back when the last hundred dogs I posted, shared, transported, donated to, to get them safe, were still put to sleep? Because of the one dog that WILL make it out. That will get a new start. That will be brought back to life. That will know again, or perhaps for the first time, sweet love. There is no sweeter feeling in the world to see a dog get safe.
So I say to you, I do not “focus” on death, my friend. I focus on LIFE! The life of that one in a hundred dogs, that if I didn’t what I do, would be dead as well. I will worry about my health, my financial future when it arrives. Right now, it is about them. And my only regret for being in rescue is that I did not know the need earlier in my life. And my only hope is when Im gone, there will be someone to take my place. And my promise to that person, is I will be with them in spirit from wherever one goes when the breath leaves the body. Because I will ALWAYS be a rescuer, even when I am just a memory.