Sit With Me
Will you sit with me a moment? Would you help me unravel the stories and troubles that have interwoven themselves throughout my brain while building a simple little directory of dogs? I appreciate you.
It’s Sunday.
I think.
The oppressive heat was cooled slightly by the storms that ravaged and devoured local communities and livelihoods. They also flamed the animosity of the celebration of America, a simple act that never before was controversial.
At least not in my lifetime.
But waving an American flag no longer means you’re proud and it’s important for people to know which side of the aisle you sit on.
AppleJack has been waiting at Easton CT Animal Control since February 2024
Like a wedding. Well an old one. Now they are mixed right from the altar through the crowd. You don’t choose the bride’s side or the grooms. How can you when the direct reference itself is no longer an element?
Which side would you sit on?
It’s important to know so you can know if you support them and their cause. Can they even answer the question? It’s important to know you know.
Are dogs worth helping?
Absolutely! Well, as long as you are morally aligned with the person who is helping them of course.
Welcome to divided America where people celebrate the 4th of July by praising the storms that destroy neighbors homes because they cancelled the fireworks set to celebrate it.
Where the cause is no longer enough. You have to pass a morality test beyond your actions simply to deserve yourself worthy of a share. Where no matter how much hard work you do it’s only as good as the last thing you did, and if it is fully aligned with the person viewing it. Good things come in shades of gray now, and the forcible destruction of your good name is done with pitchforks, torches, and social media shares.
This isn’t about me.
It’s about the hard working, underpaid, overstressed and committed civil servant who saves lives and creates miracles every single day get dragged through the mud day in and day out for not doing enough, while conveniently overlooking what they in fact have done.
It’s about the dedicated and relentless individuals who empty their wallets, bare their souls, and show up with empty batteries, a battered spirit and a shawl of hopelessness that they struggle to cast aside while the weight gets heavier and heavier.
It’s so easy to judge.
Easier than ever before with social media as the newest addiction to sweep a nation with zero resolutions, solutions or efforts to resolve. In fact, your friends are waiting for you on Lemon8. Don’t let them down. Here, this download is free. Go ahead, you’ll like it.
The posts, the pleas, the stories, the photos become nothing more than a macabre entertainment to the masses. Another boost of emotion to offset the dullness of existence lived within the humming cables of the air waves.
$5 Friday. Please help. Can you share? Scheduled to die.
Somewhere out there is a master class guidebook on how to illicit empathy. Yes. I know. Because doesn’t it feel as if compassion is almost a brazen act of lawlessness against society now?
River has been waiting at West Haven CT Animal Control since February 2024
Rylo has been waiting at the Stamford CT Animal Control shelter since November 2023
In a world designed for numbness, how dare you care.
You didn’t sign up to get beaten down, berated, ridiculed, and cursed. You wanted to make a difference.
But times have changed.
Put on your armour sweet girl. It’s time to go to war. Not just against the armchair warriors and the keyboard samurais but the people you thought were on your team. The others who swear to uphold the same moral code as you. Save the dogs. End the cruelty. Help the dogs!
You all agree, and so it’s settled.
This is your team. Your support system. Your network. We work together for the same cause.
Except your cause is never the same as another. It’s nuanced and murky shades of confusion that cause bitter battles, antagonistic posts and cancel culture.
And the dog sits in its kennel waiting.
Dogs don’t care who you voted for, what side of the proverbial aisle you sit on, who you love, where you live, if you eat bacon, or how you earn your money. They don’t care if you had an abortion, are a stay at home trad wife, smoke cigarettes, garden, or don’t. They care if they feel safe with you.
Dogs don’t vote.
If they did they would vote for more cookies.
Because sometimes life really is just that simple.
While we argue politics and label ourselves worthier than others, dogs are laying on concrete floors in steel cages for years on end.
In a state where we pat ourselves on the back for our compassion, our welcoming and understanding nature, and our respect for life.
We sit in arenas and stand on sidewalks carrying signs with slogans and shouting out trendy phrases about our values, beliefs, and we know that we belong to the right side of history, and so we show up and tell the world while it matters.
While we are waving banners and sharing our accomplishments on fixing society, another few hundred pleas are posted.
“Losing hope. Kennel stressed. Please share. Can anyone help?”
Too bad the keywords, length, and time of posting didn’t please the algorithm gods. You may as well whisper the words to the walls of the kennel.
Cricket hs been waiting at Berlin CT Animal Control since November 2024
Lucy has been waiting at Woodbridge CT Animal Control since June 2024
It’s the conundrum of the riddle that has no answer.
All lives matter.
How dare you say that…
How about this instead.
When a society has become complacent to the suffering of the most innocent and beautiful hopeless souls who ask for nothing but love, food, shelter and safety, how can we claim that any life matters.
Adopting a local shelter dog may not solve all the issues, but it sure as hell is a great start.