Waiting to hear from the vet, who apparently wants to call me with the latest plan for Haddie. I guess I had kind of a charmed life up till the two years, in which Fiona the bunny died, Mike the cat died, my dad died, Radish the bunny died young after I worked for a year and half to get her out of a hutch, Haddies dangerously ill, and Ive had injuries from head to toe. I know other people have it worse, much worse. But heres what Im starting to realize... Throughout all those good years, where things were going so well every day I took it for granted, I knew people who were having an extended rough go of it. They had to move in with aging parents, or they had debilitating diseases, or they were overwhelmed with pets and/or children with serious illnesses, and so forth. Yes, I said sorry to hear that, hope things will improve. But was I a good sympathetic ear, or did I do the minimum because I didnt want to hear about someone elses troubles? And - I hate to admit this - I think I sometimes subliminally thought, Im glad Im not in their shoes. I dont think I was being blatantly mean, just subtly self-centered. But maybe thats human nature, even hard wiring. Maybe most of us want to be in a place where were looking forward to things, where were surrounded by positivity and happy people and animals. We can only take so much sadness and bad news. Certainly those of us in the animal rights movement are already traumatized by the horrors in which most of our friends, neighbors, co-workers, and even family participate. (And please, if youre in that category, try to to wind down and ultimately stop that. Its the easiest way to reduce the amount of avoidable suffering you cause in the world.) So we crave good news and pleasurable and fulfilling experiences to compensate - heck, to keep our sanity. But now Im re-evaluating, now that Ive gotten a little taste of role reversal. Folks I know who seem to run into bad luck, or who are in long-term troubling situations...well, I could do a better job of listening to them, offering them support, hanging out with them, offering to help - on an ongoing basis. Some people seem to be very gifted in these abilities, or maybe just work harder at it. Im not going to be the best - maybe I get too wrapped up in my own affairs whether things are going poorly or well - but I can and hope to be better than I currently am in that regard.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 14:50:24 +0000
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