Messages

Since my kitty Sneakers died on June 4th, I have found it hard to rationalize my sorrow for her. Kind of like when you have a cut, that you wash out, to stop the bleeding, only to discover that as soon as you stop running water over it, it starts bleeding again. By some marvelous coincidence, the poor neglected and mistreated dog across the fence had been crying again, howling his despair at his continued confinement and isolation for many years now. I have tried time and again to get Animal Services involved, with very little result,and as the animal is not visible, but very audible from where we live, I cannot document with photos and logs what is going on, as I have done successfully with animal abuse cases in our street in the recent past. So, when I hear the animal cry, I go out and talk to him ( or her, maybe?) gently, and in a comforting way. It always stops the sorrowful cries. It made me reflect on the importance of contact, how even spare contact, when born out of genuine kindness and concern, can bring hope where before there was little or none.In that sense, modern technology through e-mails and Face Book and Twitter, enables people to connect almost instantaneously. I have a friend in Morocco, with whom I continue to feel a strong emotional and cultural-intellectual bond, in spite of the huge physical distance between us. It continues to astound me how our brief interchanges via e-mail have the ability to lift my spirits. My friend is exceedingly busy, but the fact that he takes the time to send brief messages acknowledging and responding to mine, is very encouraging to me. I think that is why I know that my acknowledgment of the poor, desperately lonely dog two houses over, whom I have never met, and only seen briefly from the street in his kennel, makes a difference. I often wish the animal goodnight, as it is barking for its miserable owners 'attention, saying "Goodnight, honey ! Good dog !" It may sound naive, but there is a small star that always hovers at night right over the yard where the animal is confined, and I wish each time I see it sparkle in the sky that the animal will be free and happy some day soon. Meanwhile, like my Moroccan friend who takes mercy on my solitary life sends me kind messages out of a sense of devotion and camaraderie going back to when we first became friends in graduate school in Austin, Texas 29 years ago, I keep wishing the dog well, even singing to him sometimes when there is a stifling silence all around his isolation year round, and I keep talking to her, praying too, for all suffering is an abomination. So, thank you, dear friend so far away, for your sensitive soulful heart, that allows me in turn to understand the importance of  comfort to a hapless creature that so much wants contact with some kindness and hope.