Still Waters

This afternoon I went out to Virginia Lake on Sauvie Island in search of still waters, overwhelmed with gratitude for human sweetness: for the outpouring of kindness, generosity, and support that came my way through Blip over the past twenty-four hours. We're in this together.

We've met bureaucracy, and we've been excluded or denied. We've run up against people who enforce rules that are inconsistent, illogical, inflexible. We mistrust authority. We're getting older and have watched relatives age, and some of us live alone. Most of us have had pets or wanted them. We all know how it feels to not have enough money for something we really want. Some of us have asked lg9's question, "Who should be forced to walk away from love because one day it might cost too much?"

My small drama triggered feelings.

We're in this virtual world together, tapping out comments on each other's daily lives, caring about each other. Many people made enormous offers of support: money, encouragement, Reiki, prayer, crossed fingers. Many times, reading comments, I was moved to tears by the generosity. One person offered one of her cats. One offered playfully to stage a demonstration to "Free Kismet!" And I wondered, over and over, if there is a way to harness some of this energy to help others who really need it. I don't know this little cat. I've only met her a few times at a shelter. I feel an affinity for her, and she seems to like me, but what about people who have pets they are deeply bonded with, pets they love like family members, who can't afford vet care for them? What if this much kindness could be directed to those who are really suffering?

When I come back from my little trip next week, whether or not I get Kismet, I want to meet with a few people I know in Portland to talk about creating a fund to help old people living alone on subsistence incomes to pay for veterinary care for their pets. I say this fully cognizant of the fact that there are people in this country dying for lack of medical care; that there are parents who cannot cover their children's medical expenses; that one of the major causes of homelessness in the USA is medical expenses. And yet I do think all human beings have a real physical need for touch, and I think in old people living alone this need is particularly moving. And so although there are horrible inconsistencies and terrible injustice in the way medical needs are met (or not) in this country, there is also a place in my heart for people who live alone and whose lives can be greatly enhanced by the presence of a companion animal. Ceridwen sent me a link to PDSA, an inspiring concept. Maybe we can do some kind of "crowd funding" to start something like PDSA in the USA.