Last night I slept soundly, but not well. My dreams were filled with Bonnie and Ranger. Maybe I've become a little too obsessed with them; but they are also microcosms of the Big World and Big Mess of Disposable Animals. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) estimates that every year in America--the Land of Opportunity if you're not a dog or cat--approximately 3-4 million companion animals are euthanized (let's put it bluntly: KILLED) because they are not wanted and there's no place for them.
3,000,000 to 4,000,000. And my efforts at the moment are directed at two of them. It seems so futile. But three things come to mind.
First, I remember the statement that "one death is a tragedy, one million deaths is a statistic". I will not be numbed by statistics.
Secondly: The Starfish Story (the original by Loren Eisley):
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?” The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
"Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!” After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said, “I made a difference for that one.”
I will make a difference for those I can.
And third, a re-affirmation of The Starfish Story is Helen Keller's mantra: "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do."
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