I wish I knew who wrote this because it’s really lovely. BUT a friend and colleague sent it to me today, saying it sounded like my house … which is about the nicest thing anyone can say.
HERE IN THIS HO– USE
Here in
this house… I will never know the loneliness I hear in the barks of the other dogs ‘out
there.’ I can sleep soundly, assured that when I wake my world will not have changed. I will
never know hunger, or the fear of not knowing whether I’ll eat. I will not
shiver in the cold, or grow weary from the heat. I will feel the sun’s heat, and
the rain’s coolness, and be allowed to smell all that can reach my nose. My fur will shine, and
never be dirty or matted.
Here in this house… There will
be an effort to communicate with me on my level. I will be talked to and, even
if I don’t understand, I
can enjoy the warmth of the words. I will be given a name so that
I may know who I am
among many. My name will be used in joy, and I will love the sound of it!
Here in this house… I will never
be a substitute for anything I am
not. I will never be used to improve peoples’ images of
themselves. I will be
loved because I am who I am, not someone’s idea of who I should be. I will never
suffer for someone’s anger, impatience, or stupidity. I will be taught all the things I
need to know to be loved
by all. If I do not learn my lessons well, they will look to
my teacher for
blame.
Here in this house… I can trust arms that hold, hands that
touch… knowing that,
no matter what they do, they do it for the good of me. If I am ill, I will
be doctored. If scared, I will be calmed. If sad, I will be cheered. No matter
what I look like, I will be considered beautiful and known to be of value. I
will never be cast out because I am too old, too ill, too unruly, or not cute
enough. My life is a responsibility, and not an afterthought. I will learn that
humans can almost, sometimes, be as kind and as fair as dogs.
Here in this house… I will
belong. I will be home.
I love this essay – and your blog! All of my dogs are kind of rescues – people have just given them to me, or begged me to take them. So I have three awesome dogs, plus Katie who came with my boyfriend almost 10 years ago.
I did not realize Z had such a rough start. So sad. Glad he ended up with you.
Very touching. When I think of my own dogs, I think that Z, who lived on the streets for the first 6 months of his life, felt this way about our home very quickly. But I think it took L a LONG time to really believe all these things, perhaps because he had already been bounced through so many homes and had been let down so many times.