Evolution

I think it is critical in Life in general, and particularly in a line of work such as this, to allow the flow and evolution of your thinking. I look back even at things I have said in past blog entries and cringe a bit. This is all stream of consciousness. How I felt (and whatever I said) about Humanity at some point last Thursday, last August, in 2006...whenever...well, it changes. At my core, I know most people are good. Just call me Anne Frank, right?

It's a danger not to recognize that beliefs are nebulous....to consider things and modify as needed. I see several of my coworkers who seem to be stuck quite often. Being pissy one day is one thing. But to have decided, like, 2 years ago that People Suck and to not entertain any notion otherwise does a huge disservice to yourself, those who have to be around you...and most importantly at work, the animals.

I am constantly pondering these things. I think you must, or you'll wind up a stony old angry prune. If you can't accept that things are all shades of grey and that you must approach each individual situation, animal, relinquisher, adopter, visitor, volunteer, etc. individually....well, you are remiss.

Another, more pensive and optimistic coworker and I have been discussing this of late. One thing that makes for an interesting thought is this: If (name coworker) wanted to adopt an animal here and had to fill out an application, would it be approved? A lot of times, I'd say...NO. Not even by that person themself, were they the person deciding.

Where do we get off expecting perfection when we are not perfect?
Can you tell me that no one working here has ever had their cat declawed, particularly before they knew better? Are everyone's litterboxes spotless all the time? No one's dog has ever gotten loose and ended up getting scooped by AC?
We will deny someone for having "too many" other animals when the person doing the denying is a borderline hoarder themselves? I mean, where do we get off? When I am working in the garden, I tie my little spoiled brat of a housedog outside nearby...she'll run off otherwise. Well, hello...I am "tying my dog outside". Call the SPCA! Why is my "tying out" ok, but someone else's "tying out" is automatically on a rusty chain, 24/7, without food and water?

Bombshell: growing up, my family had a succession of cats. They all lived outdoors...would come in just to eat and hang around. I can think of at least 2 unneutered males we had, who invariably would come home beat up and eventually never come home again. They probably knocked up half the neighborhood. We didn't know any better. The cats seemed extremely content. Granted, that was decades ago, but still...does that mean I should be crucified, laughed at after I leave the room? My application for a kitten crumpled up and tossed into the wastebasket? The particulars of our home, when I grew up, would not have made us ideal adopters. Here's another bombshell: I'm pretty sure 2 of my cats are way overdue on their rabies right now. I keep forgetting. So where would I get off talking smack about someone bringing in their animal here who's not current? Especially when we employyes have the luxury of being able to get meds and labwork at cost...free exams from our volunteer vet. Even Frontline under retail. Most people do not get that. We forget that a simple annual visit for a "civilian" can wind up in the couple hundreds after vax, heartworm test, meds and Frontline. Yay for us. It's too easy to forget.

And again with shades of grey....
There is a definite issue in our shelter with adopting out a cat to someone if they say they might let it outside.
Newsflash: "outside", by definition, does not necessarily mean ignored, left out to get in fights in a busy urban area with lots of traffic and a pack of coyotes in the area. "Outside" can mean lots of things. There is a responsible form of "outside." Sometimes I even hear someone I know bitching about relinquishers when I know for a fact that they "got rid of" their rabbits a couple years ago.

We're human. I get angry, too. I feel I have the real right to be angry here, more than anyone else, considering that I am the sole executioner. But each situation is different, and coming at everything angry just creates another vicious circle. The people who are in this vicious circle don't see it...they just think that Humanity is constantly proving their anger justified. Where did it start in a given circumstance? Chicken or egg?

Rigidity has no place in Life at all, I don't think...and again, certainly no place in this line of work. Nothing is that simple. Would that it were.

Anthropomorphizing is such a convenient thing. If you want to make animals just like people, how about go all the way? To wit- are OUR lives perfect? Imagine nurses in the maternity ward refusing to let any babies leave the hospital without being able to be absolutely sure that their whole lives would go perfectly. The parents would have to be married, guaranteed forever. Everyone would be expected to live comfortable, pretty lives...with nothing bad ever happening in their childhood or beyond. No disease, no accidents, no upheaval, no tragedy, no big changes in life circumstances. Impossible, no? That's not Life. So why do we think we can appoint ourselves authority of the future, preferably Perfect Life of animals?

It all seems too much sometimes. It is difficult not to judge from past experience. To judge people. To judge situations. How can you not?

One common judgement I am struggling with right now is towards low income/disabled people. Most of us tend to not prefer adopting to those who we think (and again, who the hell are we?) don't have the financial means nor perhaps the common sense to "properly" care for an animal to our exacting (<---sarcasm, because again...show me your litterbox right now!) standards. But let me ask this. If you were a clingy little neurotic dog, would you rather have a rich, nuclear family, frou frou home with holistic food and a million toys...where you were in a crate alone 10 hours a day while everyone was at work, school, soccer, ballet...or would you rather have a poorer, rustic home with Ol' Roy and a Hartz flea collar but an owner who was there with you 24/7 doting on you every moment?
What would the dog choose?
Exactly.
And it should be our job, our REAL job, to help and educate the latter to be the best owner they can be.
Some of my coworkers can't seem to grasp this, but most people really want to do the best they can, only they don't know what it is...unless we tell them. And tell them in a polite, respectful way.

This is something that needs to be considered.

It's hard to change, and I sympathize with my stuck coworkers or others in the field. I read a lot about newer sheltering models...the no kill movement. We are pushing 90%, so I think we can be proud. It is hard not to beat yourself up about the 10% The 10% haunt each and every one of us, as do the failed adoptions. And that is the thing- we cannot let the smaller amount of bad overshadow the vastly larger amount of good. Letting that happen only turns you bitter, angry, judgemental. It is a loss of opportunity for a positive outcome for you, an animal, an adopter.

I dunno.....just rambling. All you can do is get up every morning and do the best you can and strive for even better tomorrow. We need to stop seeing the public as the Enemy. Maybe it makes things easier for us, psychologically. Us against Them, saving all the animals. Maybe it's the easier way to deal....the lazier way, since it takes less effort to refuse to engage meaningfully and openmindedly with someone who does not fit your paradigm of "Perfect Animal Owner." But the thing is, there's no such thing. It's not that simple. And I can see how the public can come to form judgements about shelter workers just as we come to form judgements about the public. Tit for tat.