One Paw At A Time

Why are you sad? His head tilted ever so slightly to the left, a quizzical look in his eyes.

I have no idea, I thought. There is just so much pain wherever I look. The news of the world. The anger and hatred. The sadness and despair. It gets so overwhelming. 

Look at the good you have done. At the kindness you have shared. At the empathy you have shown. You have made this world a better place. His eyes said it all.

It doesn’t feel like much I lamented. It’s just a drop in the bucket. There is so much pain in so many situations. 

His gaze penetrated my heart. His whiskers twitched. And his motorboat purr gently rumbled: without you, I wouldn’t be here. I might have been on the streets, hungry, matted, fleabitten. Desperate for a gentle touch and a soft voice, yet met with a stout kick or a tossed rock. Always leery, always scrambling out of danger. But then you came along, giving the time, the energy, the compassion and the resources needed to help someone like me. No one person can fix the world. But if each of us reach out to help, just a little, the world becomes a better place. Thank you for that.