When journeys end...

We have this Prayers & Passages page at Readlarrypowell.com for a couple of reasons.
One is to honor beloved companions who have gone on for one reason or another. Now and then, it is, quite simply, time. Mercy has a special place in the pantheon of prayers.
Another reason is to give comfort to people who have encountered a staggering, perhaps sudden and completely unexpected twist of fate.
In this edition, we hope to offer comfort to some of those people by reminding them of the ways of dogs and cats and the risks that are taken in rescue every day.
People outside the arena think rescue is easy. Just get the dog and find it a home. Take the “free kittens” and hand them over to a rescue group.
There is one immense, sometimes insurmountable variable to animals – they will do what they want to do when they want to do it. They take advantage of situations. They change directions. They change behavior.  Yes, they are nearly human.
Except that they need human help to survive in the world. Humans try. Animals are sly. Sometimes the mix proves fatal.
When that happens, the sadness is overwhelming. People who dealt with the animals – people whose hearts are forever affected by these animals – find themselves suffering a new discomfort, a deeper pain, a frustration that will live on because an animal slipped through an open door, figured a way out of a yard, jumped from loving arms at the wrong time and fled into uncertainty.
That uncertainty is rough on the humans. Certainty can be devastating.
In the past couple of weeks, we have, on our Readlarrypowell.com news site, written about two animals that vanished in northern areas of Dallas.
Jill, an older cat, managed to slip away from a veteran rescuer by discovering an “exit” from an exercise pen. Farley, a rescued Aussie, bolted through an open garage door and raced away into an unfamiliar neighborhood.
The people who were working with these two rescued animals have been reeling all weekend after their worst fears were confirmed.
Jill the Cat “is now at peace,” her guardian has told us – she is so shaken she cannot go into the details. And Farley, a victim of Dallas’ traffic, is one of the rescued dogs who took advantage of openings and used his great canine tendencies to get into a fatal situation. His guardian’s world has been rocked by shame, guilt and deep sadness.
The people involved in these cases don’t know each other.  But they do know each other’s despair.
The comfort we offer is that many a rescuer’s heart will recall how these two people feel – not every rescuer has a perfect record of saving animals. There are those who got away. There are those you saw on a freeway and by the time you made an exit-ramp u-turn in rush hour, it was too late. There are those you find in such agony that they die before you can help them. And there are those you saw in a city shelter and you could not help them because of the sheer overwhelming numbers.
The people who worked with Jill and Farley are in pain. It will disappear, but it won’t go away. They can expect to see it again – another cat may spark a memory of Jill, another Aussie may bring Harley racing to the front of the mind.
There is a common goal in rescue – philosophies may be different, but the common goal is to be kind to animals. Sometimes we need to be kind to humans, too. There is terrific pain in a broken heart.
The story is simple: Farley and Jill – a dog and a cat –  take separate paths and arrive at the same destination. Unlike many animals who never get the blessing of rescue, Jill and Farley encountered love on their journeys. The people who tried to help them should remember that.
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Comments

[jim]

I have a said a small prayer for each of the two spirits that have passed wishing them the joy and happiness now that eluded them on this earth. And for those dedicated rescuers who are grieving and questioning themselves please remember-you are doing your best to help those who cannot help themselves. Sometimes the best of intentions end in sadness. But that doesn't mean you should impose the burden on guilt on yourself. You are doing what others can't or won't-doing something to help. And I commend you for this. And all of those who you have helped and cannot speak for themselves would tell you the same.

[maeleska fletes]

God's speed sweet babies! I'm saying a prayer for each of the rescuers and for those of us that know their pain!

[Roxanne]

How I wish I could say that guilt for an ultimately fatal error had not touched me! My heart goes out to these pets and their people. None of us is infallible, and thank God for the softness of hearts that have the courage to care, despite having the potential to become broken! That softness will hopefully remain, and enable these folks to go on, in the mission to continue helping. God bless!

[Dawna Carabajal]

I am so very sorry for your loss. I will say a prayer for the all involved. May Jesus hold them and love them until they can be reunited in the afterlife with their rescuers. While they may have only known you a short time, they could feel your love. God Bless you for what you do. And try not to be too hard on yourselves. For any of us involved in rescue know the heartache of not being able to save them all.